2024-08-22
Worthy
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How to Build a 50k Ton Forging Press
In the 1950s, the Department of Defense undertook a program to build such presses. Known as the Heavy Press Program, it funded the construction of four large forging presses and six extrusion presses. Upon completion, the largest of them were the largest presses in the world. The program was an enormous success. Not only did the large parts produced by the presses greatly reduce the cost and increase the performance of military aircraft, but the presses proved useful for making parts for things like helicopters, submarines, spacecraft, and commercial jets. Within roughly a decade the presses had returned more than double their investment in reduced manufacturing costs, and they continued to produce complex, high quality forged and extruded parts over the subsequent decades. Six of the ten presses are still operational today.
recent experience suggests the U.S. might no longer be willing or able to take advantage of this type of opportunity. Much of the experience in building machinery of this magnitude has been lost, or has migrated elsewhere. The original heavy presses were built by American companies like Loewy Hydropress and Mesta, but when the 50,000-ton Alcoa press was refurbished in the early 2000s, the parts came from German company SMS, the same company that built the 60,000-ton forging press. And while American car manufacturers are using large Giga-casting machines in their manufacturing operations, those machines themselves are overwhelmingly built by Chinese or Chinese-owned companies like IDRA.
Horseshit
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Professor Says Sea Monsters Were Most Likely Whale Penises in Viral Post
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You can be right, or you can be effective - by Dave Paola
Turns out, working with people who care about being right all the time is a giant pain in the ass. They’re not pleasant to be around. They can be grating and confrontational. They aren’t always aware of their negative effects on those around them. And they often fail out of collaborative, team environments.
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Parts of the contemporary art market are collapsing in price
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Drivers of hydrogen cars are annoyed at California. But they're suing Toyota
celebrity gossip
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Jimmy Kimmel's Use of George Santos' Cameo Videos Found to Be Fair Use
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Totally unrelated to any corporations wanting these people dead. Climate crisis fuelled storm that sank yacht in Sicily, say experts
Obit
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
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Lukianoff And Defining Cancel Culture - by Scott Alexander
When I talk about wanting to “rigorously define it”, I don’t just mean the kind of definition you would put in a dictionary. I mean something like the debate around the definition of “woman”. For a dictionary, “you know, female person, opposite of male”, is a perfectly good definition of woman. But the debaters want something you can use to adjudicate edge cases.
I’m not demanding that anyone solve these questions before opposing cancel culture. I’m certainly not challenging the proposition that cancel culture is real and bad. There are lots of things that are bad and that we should oppose, but which we can’t easily define or circumscribe
Electric / Self Driving cars
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Ford is making major changes to its electric vehicle strategy
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How to disable cellular connectivity in a Gen 2 (2016-2019) Chevy Volt
When I first bought my Volt, I made sure that OnStar was not activated. However, I wasn’t sure if that actually meant that the car woudl stop collecting and transmitting data. By physically disabling the cellular antenna, I can be more sure that the car isn’t transmitting data.
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
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The Origin and Harm of Federal Education Mandates
I was a member of our affirmative side, arguing “yes” to the question of Federal aid to education. My partner and I won almost every debate we were in. But any pride I might have in that was countered by my knowledge that the affirmative pairs on almost all the teams in the state won all or nearly all their debates. It was easy to make the affirmative case. All you had to do was point to statistics showing that schools in poor states, like Mississippi, were spending much less money on education than were schools in rich states, like Massachusetts, and make the case that less money means poorer education. I also recognized, even then, that the affirmative case was abetted by the fact that the judges in these debates were almost always school administrators or teachers who would dearly love to get some of that federal money. We in the affirmative played to their wishes.
I said that my partner and I won “almost” every debate. We lost one. The star of the pair that beat us was probably the most brilliant debater in the state. I’m not just saying that because she beat us so soundly. I learned later that she won every debate she was in throughout her high school career. Her basic argument was this: “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” With federal money, she argued, will come federal control. Local school boards, school principals, and teachers—the people on the ground, who know the kids, who can see what works and what doesn’t—will lose control of the curriculum and how it is taught. Education decisions will be made by politicians and bureaucrats who have no direct knowledge of how kids learn and will look only at numbers, not at kids.
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
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Feb 2025 release: A new age begins: Civilization 7 captures the chaos of human history in manageable doses | Games | The Guardian
- they bought a PR package: Civilization 7 lets you mix and match history – and it's a blast
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Nintendo to open museum showcasing video game history this fall
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“Something has gone seriously wrong,” dual-boot systems warn after MS update
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Google sales reps allegedly keep telling advertisers how to target teens
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Chick-fil-A plans to launch streaming service with original shows
TechSuck / Geek Bait
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
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Microsoft releases powerful new Phi-3.5 models, beating Google, OpenAI and more
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Predictions of AI doom are too much like Hollywood movie plots
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Big Tech wants AI to be regulated. Why do they oppose a California AI bill?
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AI Companies Have Pitched US Political Campaigns. The Campaigns Are Wary. - The New York Times
This was supposed to be the year of the A.I. election. Fueled by a proliferation of A.I. tools like chatbots and image generators, more than 30 tech companies have offered A.I. products to national, state and local U.S. political campaigns in recent months. The companies — mostly smaller firms such as BHuman, VoterVoice and Poll the People — make products that reorganize voter rolls and campaign emails, expand robocalls and create A.I.-generated likenesses of candidates that can meet and greet constituents virtually. But campaigns are largely not biting — and when they have, the technology has fallen flat. Only a handful of candidates are using A.I., and even fewer are willing to admit it, according to interviews with 23 tech companies and seven political campaigns. Three of the companies said campaigns agreed to buy their tech only if they could ensure that the public would never find out they had used A.I.
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
Crypto con games
Economicon / Business / Finance
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Cisco employees face a month of silence ahead of second layoff in 2024
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Praise for Price-Gouging - by John H. Cochrane
Price gouging is fundamentally different from monopoly pricing, collusion, or price-fixing. Price gouging happens in perfectly competitive markets. There suddenly isn’t enough to go around, either from a surge in demand or a contraction in supply. Prices rise sharply above what people are used to paying. Those that have inventories, bought when prices were lower, can turn around and make a temporary profit. VP Harris calls for a new law against “gouging,” because price fixing is already illegal, and it’s abundantly clear grocery stores are not doing it. Price gouging is wonderful for all the reasons that letting supply equals demand is wonderful. When there is a limited supply, then a sharply higher price directs that supply to those who really need it. It’s day 2 after the hurricane. Who really needs gas? An ambulance, police, or fire truck? A handicapped person, needing to get to a doctor across town? Or someone who could bike, take public transit, or walk with just a little effort to go see a friend? Hoarding goes with price controls, anticipated empty shelves. Why did people buy tons of toilet paper in the pandemic? They were worried about not being able to get it in the future. If the stores had not been worried about price-gouging, they would have raised the prices a lot more, and people with that idea would have gotten the message, don’t bother to stock up now — and if you really need it, there will always be some in the store later.
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A group of nuns in rural Kansas vex big companies with their investment activism
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New data shows US job growth has been far weaker than initially reported
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The explosion of online sports betting is taking a toll on how people invest
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Looming Canadian rail work stoppage threatens US supply chains
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Top US oilfield firm Halliburton hit by cyberattack, source says
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Americans are doing less DIY. It's another worrying sign for the economy
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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How Section 230 Is Being Used Against Tech Giants Like Meta - The New York Times
Facebook, X, YouTube and other social media platforms rely on a 1996 law to insulate themselves from legal liability for user posts. The protection from this law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, is so significant that it has allowed tech companies to flourish. But what if the same law could be used to rein in the power of those social media giants? That idea is at the heart of a lawsuit filed in May against Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The plaintiff has asked a federal court to declare that a little-used part of Section 230 makes it permissible for him to release his own software that lets users automatically unfollow everyone on Facebook. The lawsuit, filed by Ethan Zuckerman, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is the first to use Section 230 against a tech giant in this way, his lawyers said. It is an unusual legal maneuver that could turn a law that typically protects companies like Meta on its head. And if Mr. Zuckerman succeeds, it could mean more power for consumers to control what they see online.
Harris / TBA 2024 / Democrats Demonstrate "Our Democracy"
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Talking Points Memo · TPM is the home of Josh Marshall, the ur-blogger on US Politics, and still as good as anyone. He’s hired a bunch of other clear and clear-eyed writers, who obsess about elections all day every day. They have a strong and acknowledged pro-Democratic and anti-Trump bias, but in my opinion don’t let it clutter their analyses. If you’re reading the polling sites that I’m recommending below, TPM will have smart interpretive pieces about what they might mean.
Trump / Right / Jan6
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Driving the news: Donald Trump's return to X last week — the platform that used to be his presidential megaphone, back when it was known as Twitter — coincided with his resharing a torrent of AI-generated images. There was the one showing Kamala Harris addressing a lookalike throng of cartoon communists with a giant red hammer-and-sickle banner looming over the arena. Or the video of improbably slimmed-down versions of Trump and Elon Musk in a swivel-hipped dance duet. Over on his Truth Social network, Trump posted a collage of images — many seemingly AI-generated — suggesting there is a large movement of Taylor Swift fans who support him. (There isn't.)
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Joint ODNI, FBI, and CISA Statement on Iranian Election Influence Efforts — FBI
We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns. This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign, which the IC attributes to Iran. The IC is confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties. Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process. It is important to note that this approach is not new. Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world.
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
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Ford’s Police Explorer Engines Are Exploding.
The recall follows reports of under-hood fires resulting from engine failures, specifically incidents where engine oil and fuel vapor are released into the engine compartment due to an "engine block breach." In simpler terms, an engine block breach typically refers to a catastrophic failure where a connecting rod punctures through the engine block, often leading to significant damage and potentially dangerous situations. Ford acknowledges that the root cause of these breaches is challenging to pin down, though connecting rod fractures, possibly linked to bearing seizures, are believed to be at fault.
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
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80% of applicants with experience matching our stack were North Koreans
Cinder is part of a growing list of US-based tech companies that encounter engineering applicants who are actually suspected North Korean nationals. These North Koreans almost certainly work on behalf of the North Korean government to funnel money back to their government while working remotely via third countries like China. Since at least early 2023, many have applied to US-based remote-first tech companies like Cinder. If you’ve been running into this issue, here are some tips for how you can handle this at your own company. It’s important to note that funding the North Korean government could constitute a crime given the sanctions the regime is under. And nobody wants that kind of paperwork headache! Cinder is unique in our ability to interface with this issue given our co-founders’ backgrounds as ex-CIA operatives, as well as an expert on North Korea. Our prior experience spurred our interest in building internet safety software to begin with, and inspires a particular vigilance to maintain it to the best of our abilities.
World
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Negative power prices hit Europe as renewable energy floods the grid
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Sunflower oil dethrones olive oil in Spain's kitchens as prices soar
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‘Keyboard Warriors’ Who Stoked UK Riots Test the Limits of Free Speech - The New York Times
A 53-year-old woman from northwest England was jailed for 15 months after posting on Facebook that a mosque should be blown up “with the adults inside.” A 45-year-old man was sentenced to 20 months for goading his online followers to torch a hotel that houses refugees. A 55-year-old woman was questioned by the police for a viral post that wrongly identified the suspect in a deadly stabbing knife attack at a children’s dance class. These and other people are accused of being “keyboard warriors,” in the words of one British judge, exploiting social media to stir up the anti-immigrant riots that exploded after the suspect was arrested in the fatal stabbings of three young girls at the dance class, in the town of Southport. Their cases have now become examples in a politically charged debate over the limits of free speech in Britain. With the courts handing down harsh sentences to hundreds who took part in the violent unrest, and calls for the government to strengthen regulation of online content, some argue that the authorities risk going too far. Not only are judges locking up far-right rioters, these critics say, but they are also opening the door to a broader crackdown on speech.
Israel
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Israel Is Winning | Foreign Affairs
Reading the news today often leaves the impression that Israel is struggling in its war against Hamas. The fighting in the Gaza Strip has carried on for more than ten months, a peace deal remains elusive, and the threat of regional escalation looms. More than 100 hostages taken on October 7 have yet to be released, with dozens of them presumed dead. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have died, and Gaza faces a dire humanitarian crisis. Critics of Israel’s military strategy have argued that the devastation it has caused has increased support for Hamas and left the group stronger. According to this common perspective, Israel’s prosecution of the war has served only to lock in a cycle of deadly violence. In the flurry of commentary, however, it is easy to lose sight of what it means to win the war Israel is fighting. War is the pursuit of political objectives through force. A war has a start and a finish, so its progress can be assessed based on how close each side has come to meeting its political objectives. By this measure, it is Israel, not Hamas, that now holds the advantage.
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
China
Health / Medicine
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Two slices of ham a day can raise type 2 diabetes risk by 15%, research suggests
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Good observations on lead exposure, IQ, and crime
what's more likely to have happened is that being exposed to an era's relatively high lead levels has been confounded by a similar level of socioeconomic status/other variables that track IQ over time. The result is that declining blood lead levels meet constant case-control gaps and massively increasing estimated impacts of blood lead. Frankly, the apparently massive impact of 1 μg/dL of blood lead these days should have been enough of a hint that something was up, because if the effects are so large that a single μg/dL reduces IQs by nearly 4 points, society would be doomed because humans would be so fragile life is impossible. Your parents would also be very stupid by comparison to you, but when we compare parents and their kids these days, we just don't see that.
- cue "but crime levels are down all over!" arguments from the usual quarters.
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Mushroom edibles are making people sick. Scientists still don't know why
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Majority of baby foods in US grocery stores may not meet health guidelines
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Fluoride at twice the recommended limit is linked to lower IQ in kids