2024-09-06

Worthy

• Why Can't the U.S. Build Ships?

  For those of us worried about America’s ability to manufacture things, there’s no shortage of worrying indicators to point to. Manufacturing employment has fallen by a third from its peak in 1979, even as the population has grown by nearly 50% over the same period. Storied manufacturing companies like Boeing and Intel are struggling. From machine tools to industrial robots to consumer electronics, the list of American industries where manufacturing capability has been hollowed out is long.

  Another worrying indicator is shipbuilding capacity. Commercial shipbuilding in the U.S. is virtually nonexistent: in 2022, the U.S. built just five oceangoing commercial ships, compared to China’s 1,794 and South Korea’s 734. The U.S. Navy estimates that China’s shipbuilding capacity is 232 times our own. It costs roughly twice as much to build a ship in the U.S. as it does elsewhere. The commercial shipbuilders that do exist only survive thanks to protectionist laws like the Jones Act, which serve to prop up an industry which is uncompetitive internationally. As a result, the U.S. annually imports over 4 trillion dollars worth of goods, 40% of which are delivered by ship (more than by any other mode of transportation), but those ships are overwhelmingly built elsewhere.

  The U.S. continues to produce an insignificant fraction of commercial ships, and the shipbuilding industry it does have is propped up by some of the most restrictive protectionist laws in the world. American ship costs and construction times are far higher than those around the world, and markets that once provided a healthy amount of work for shipbuilders (such as inland and coastal trade) have greatly declined. The number of active shipyards has continued to fall, and the yards that do exist mostly do either naval work or build vessels to support offshore oil drilling. The cost and expense of building American ships, along with the protectionist laws that prevent the use of foreign-built ships, have had a variety of downstream effects, from creating barriers to offshore wind farm construction to failing to insufficient dredging of our channels and waterways.

etc

• Researchers Discover First Use of Fertilizer

• Desperate Bid to Save JFK Shown in Resurfaced Film

• Anthrax Outbreak in Carbon County Kills at Least 50 Cattle, Also Found in Moose

Horseshit

• SWISS forced to rebalance planes due to weight of new 1st class seats

• BMW to bring colour-changing cars to customers in 'three to five years'

• Saturn's majestic rings will "vanish" in just six months from now

  A fast-approaching and significant cosmic event will soon dramatically alter our view of this magnificent planet. Come March 2025, Saturn’s majestic rings will become virtually invisible to earth-based observers. This phenomenon occurs due to the unique tilt of Saturn’s axis, which will position the rings edge-on to our line of sight. Saturn’s axial tilt, which is the angle its axis leans compared to its orbit around the Sun, is about 27 degrees. As Saturn moves during its 29.5 year orbit around the Sun, this tilt means different parts of its rings and moons get sunlight at different angles, changing how they look. So, the rings are not really disappearing but rather playing a celestial game of hide and seek. At their reappearance, we can also enjoy an accentuated view of Saturn’s moons.

• Amazon Drivers Complain Their Ability to Sing Along the Radio Is Being Stifled

• Nonprofit reduces food waste by making meals out of perishable food

  In a world of food waste, the nonprofit Philo's Kitchen is hoping to reduce what ends up in the garbage or landfill. The nonprofit takes perishable food that would otherwise go to waste and turns the ingredients into freezer meals, distributed to low-income families and individuals who rely on food banks.

• The Magazine for Mercenaries Enters Polite Society

• Fashion Designer Yohji Yamamoto Says Work Is a 'Prison'

• Yellow food dye turns live mice transparent

  Stamford researchers discovered that the application of tartrazine, a food dye more popularly known as FD&C Yellow 5, tamed this scattering effect. Specifically, the dye was found to absorb light in the near ultraviolet and blue part of the spectrum, which allowed red and orange light to penetrate deeper into the tissue of mice. This basically turned their skin transparent, an effect that easily reversed once the dye was washed away.

  • so not quite "they're making invisible ghost mice to conquer the Earth". Dammit.

  • Achieving optical transparency in live animals with absorbing molecules

  • See-through mice? Scientists see potential in 'tissue clearing'

• Could you live without shopping for a year? Try the 'no-buy challenge'

Obit

• Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei dies days after being set alight by ex-BF

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• The drift toward unfreedom – POLITICO

  in the aftermath of 9/11, there was little public disquiet when U.S. lawmakers hastily passed the Patriot Act — a huge piece of legislation that, among other things, made it easier for authorities to spy on ordinary citizens by expanding powers to monitor phone and email communications, gather bank and credit transactions, and track online activity. The argument at the time was that government reach had to be increased in order to protect freedom — and there could always be a rollback when the danger was finally over.

  Only a few were mindful of the dangers inherent in this approach at the time, worried that inadvertently balancing too far in the direction of security and safety risked long-term harm to democracy. The skeptics who dismissed government claims that things would later revert to normal were arguably right. Rolling back restrictions and intrusions is much easier said than done, as governments, law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are highly reluctant to surrender powers once they have them.

  And now, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest by French authorities and his indictment on a range of charges last week is likely the opening shot in what will be a prolonged legal and political struggle, the consequences of which will likely contribute to reshaping this balance of power between states and individuals.

• China is pushing divisive political messages online using fake U.S. voters

Tenet

• U.S. says Russia funded media company that paid right-wing influencers millions

• Fool Me Once: Russian Influence Operation Doppelganger Continues on X, Facebook

• US conservative influencers 'victims' of Russian disinformation campaign

• White House seizes 32 domains in election-meddling crackdown

• DOJ alleges Russia funded US media company linked to right-wing social media

• Right-Wing Network Tenet Media Allegedly Spread Russian Disinformation

• DOJ Bombshell Alleges MAGA Media Group Is Backed by Russian Money

• U.S. Charges American Commentator Who Works for Russian State TV

Telegram

• Arrest of Telegram's Founder Illuminates Global Anxieties About Social Platforms

• Pavel Durov breaks silence for first time since arrest

• Pavel Durov: Telegram founder says France arrest is 'misguided'

Musk

• Racism, misogyny, lies: how did X become so full of hatred?

• Advertiser exodus from X gathers pace with 26% 'planning to cut spending'

  • Advertisers plan to withdraw from X in record numbers

• US judge says X must face class action age bias claims over mass layoff

• Lula: Musk's wealth does not mean world must accept his 'far-right free-for-all'

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Volvo gives up plan to sell only EVs by 2030

  • Volvo Cars abandons 2030 EV-only target

• EVs Take 95.7% Share in Norway in August

• Tesla says will launch Full Self Driving in Europe and China early next year

• Ditching EVs for Hybrids Is Already Paying Off for Automakers

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Meta oversight board clears use of 'From the River to the Sea'

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Kids Should Be Taught to Think Logically

• Why Fascists Hate Universities

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• AT&T Sues Broadcom over VMware Contracts 'Bullying'

• After Nearly a Decade Away, Panasonic TVs Are Back in the US

• FTC urged to make smart devices say how long they will be supported

  • Groups call on FTC to develop clear guidance for use of 'software tethering'

• Feds Indict Musician on Landmark Streaming Fraud Charges

• The Internet Archive has lost its appeal in Hachette vs. Internet Archive | Hacker News

  there has been real collateral damage to the many noble aspects of the Internet Archive. Legal fees and judgements have diverted resources away from the Wayback Machine, the library of public domain works, and other IA programs that provide real value to society. I truly hope the organization can survive.

• Zyxel warns of vulnerabilities in a wide range of its products

• Generative AI backlash hits annual writing event, prompting resignations

• Verizon Strikes $9.6 Billion Deal for Frontier - WSJ

  • Verizon to acquire Frontier in $20B deal to boost fiber network

• AI-powered music scam nets musician $10M in royalties–and federal charges

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Open Source Auto Engine computing | Speeduino Manual

• ANSI Art in the 90s

• The Memory Wall: Past, Present, and Future of DRAM

  High bandwidth memory (HBM), the backbone of accelerator memory, costs 3x or more per GB than standard DDR5. Customers are forced to accept this as there is little alternative if they want to make a competitive accelerator package. This equilibrium is unstable – future HBM generations continue to grow even more complex with higher layer counts. AI memory needs are exploding as model weights alone approach multi-TB-scale. For the H100, ~50%+ of the cost of manufacturing is attributed to HBM and with Blackwell, this grows to ~60%+. The DRAM industry, in other words, has hit a wall. Compute improvements, although slowing, are vastly outpacing memory. How can the pace of innovation reaccelerate in DRAM – and what innovations can be harnessed to improve bandwidth, capacity, cost, and power use in the future?

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• US, Britain, EU to sign first international AI treaty

• Kids who use ChatGPT as a study assistant do worse on tests

• OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever raises $1B for his new AI firm

• OpenAI considers $2000 subscriptions to its upcoming Chatbot AI

• OpenAI, Still Haunted by Its Chaotic Past, Is Trying to Grow Up

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• After Starliner, NASA has another big human spaceflight decision to make

Crypto con games

• Crypto Scams and Lonely Americans

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Nvidia Denies It Was Subpoenaed in Justice Department Antitrust Probe

• Volkswagen warns staff it has 'a year, maybe two' to adapt to lower demand

• Intel announces first round of layoffs

• The Hot Labor Market Has Melted Away. Just Ask New College Grads

• US job openings hit 3-1/2-year low as labor market eases

• Visa to launch pay-by-bank payments, an alternative to credit cards

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• US Government Sets Out to Improve Internet Routing Security

Harris / Democrats

• We Hunted Hidden Police Signals at the DNC

• Smirking Vladimir Putin says he supports Kamala Harris after American spy agencies said Russian election meddling favours Donald Trump as they launched effort to counter Kremlin election interference

  A smirking Vladimir Putin said Thursday he supported Kamala Harris in the upcoming US presidential election just a day after Washington accused Moscow of tampering with the vote. 'Firstly, (US President Joe) Biden recommended all his supporters support Mrs Harris,' Putin said during a question and answer session at Russia's Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. 'Here, we are going to do that too, we're going to support her,' he added, with a wry smile. 'She laughs so contagiously that it shows that everything is fine with her,' the Russian leader said, as members of the public laughed. '(Former US President Donald) Trump has imposed as many sanctions on Russia as any president has ever imposed before, and if Harris is doing well, perhaps she will refrain from such actions.'

• Walz, Sen. Tina Smith Use Bakery That Closed During His COVID Crackdown to ‘Own’ Vance

Biden Inc

• Hunter Biden pleads guilty in tax case hours after jury selection was to begin

Trump / Right / Jan6

• Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs issues chilling warning about Trump assassination attempt: 'The government is smirking in our face' | Daily Mail Online

  Speaking to Tucker Carlson, Sachs said that the lack of background on what led to Trump being shot is what happens when the government refuses to level with citizens. 'We don't know what happened, it's absolutely shocking, we don't know the story and whether we ever will know the story is, like so many things now that are huge events,' he said.

  'The thing that gets me about Washington is they don't feel they have to respond to anything and you watch the spokespeople... they smirk! Right in your face to tell you you are nothing! We can tell anything to you! They smirk!'

  The new details add to an emerging portrait of Crooks as a highly intelligent and reclusive man who investigators say in the years before the shooting had taken an eerie interest in explosives, violence and prominent public figures but whose internet searches of Democrats and Republicans alike have frustrated efforts to assign a simple political motive or to establish why Trump himself would have been targeted. 'We have a clear idea of mindset, but we are not ready to make any conclusive statements regarding motive at this time,' Rojek said. The FBI has also not found that anyone else had advance knowledge of the shooting or that Crooks had conspired with anyone else.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• US arms advantage over Russia and China threatens stability, experts warn

• America's Space Force Is Preparing for the Risk of War

• Chief's Mess Wifi: There is Dysfunction, and then there's USS Manchester (LCS 14) Gold Crews in 2023

  You know those stories that the more you read it and the more you ponder it, the worse it looks? And then, when you see the reaction of the Navy to it, it just makes less sense? Well, this is one of those stories.

  I am sure we do, as we once did, have people who all they do is look for “Tempest Hazards” on ships. We do still have that, yes?

  • Sailors hid an unauthorized Starlink on deck of a US warship–and lied about it

• NSA, FBI, CISA, and Allies Issue Advisory about Russian Military Cyber Actors

World

• Germany: Far-right AfD wins first state vote since WWII

  • Germany: AfD party calls for an end to mail-in ballots, launches investigation into suspicious software error

• Germany faces jobs crisis 'of a thousand cuts'

• Deutsche Bank chief tells Germans: Work longer and harder

• Key aspects of Palantir's Federated Data Platform lack legal basis

  NHS England has received advice from lawyers saying key aspects of its controversial Federated Data Platform (FDP) lack a legal basis, meaning that unless a solution is found, it must allow citizens to opt out of sharing their data.

• Former Brexit negotiator named as France's new prime minister

China

• China's binge-buying of chipmaking equipment could yield overcapacity problem

Health / Medicine

• Welcome to Canada, the Doctor Will Kill You Now

• New study suggests nose picking could increase risk for Alzheimer's and dementia

• Deadly Heart Condition Is Much More Common Than Previously Thought

• Parkinson's may begin in the gut, study says, adding to growing evidence

• The truth behind that viral study on fluoride and IQ

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• UK wind energy: Not 'leading the world'. It's economic suicide

• Brutal Heat Wave Will Extend Streak of 100 Days of 100 Degrees F

• No basis for claim that 80% of biodiversity is found in Indigenous territories

• All fun is bad: Massive Attack’s science-led drive to lower music’s carbon footprint

  Climate scientist Carly McLachlan partners with the UK band to put the environmental impact of concerts centre stage.

• Loss of bats to lethal fungus linked to 1,300 child deaths in US, study says

  • A bunch of dead bats led to the death of more than 1k kids

• Electrocuted Birds Are Bursting into Flames and Starting Wildfires