2024-10-01

people helping people while TLAs asses, truck tires slashed, TechBro chic, Musk praise, DirecTVDish coagulates, NYT likes Harris, 43ft nude Trump, slave labor oopsie, COVID affected the Moon

etc

• NTSB issues 'urgent' safety warning for some Boeing 737s

• Plumes of smoke from US chemical plant fire

  • Georgia chemical plant fire: Residents told to evacuate or take shelter

  • Over 90k Georgia residents taking shelter after chemical fire

NC/TN Floods / Helene

• Spruce Pine devastated by Helene – Semiconductor production

  • Hurricane Helene barreled through a crucial chip mining area in North Carolina

  • Spruce Pine, NC got hit by Helene. It could disrupt the tech industry

• We're only beginning to understand the historic nature of Helene's flooding

• Hurricane Helene Turns City Touted as ‘Climate Haven’ Into ‘Apocalyptic’ Disaster Zone

• The latest on the fallout of Hurricane Helene

• Photos: The Aftermath of Hurricane Helene

• Hurricane Helene leaves 1K people unaccounted for in Buncombe County

  More than 1,000 people have been reported unaccounted for in a devastated North Carolina county where 30 people have already been confirmed dead after Hurricane Helene, officials said Sunday. Authorities in Buncombe County reported the horrifying toll in an emergency meeting announcing emergency medical shelters and ongoing rescue efforts in areas almost overwhelmed by stormwater. They also announced a special website to appeal for help finding those unaccounted for — with “more than 1,000 reports so far,” one local official told the live-streamed meeting.

• Residents take it upon selves to help reopen bridge

  The sound of chainsaws filled the air as volunteers — unsolicited and “unauthorized” — removed detritus from the deck of Jackson Bridge Saturday morning. They were men and women from south of the Nolichucky River, and their neighbors for miles were stranded after massive flooding from Hurricane Helene had wiped out some bridges and made others, including Jackson, impassable. Volunteers drove tractors, skid steers, and other personal equipment up and down Jackson Bridge Road for more than a half-mile behind them. “We’ve been here all morning pushing mud, cutting trees and moving things out,” nearby resident Steven Beckett told News Channel 11.

• President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Tennessee Emergency Declaration | The White House

• Tennessee Guardsmen continue assisting rescue efforts in East Tennessee

• police guarding stores

• looters are everywhere, people are vandalizing everywhere

• Biden says no more resources available

• People are asserting this is related; but Jackson is ~8hr drive west of anyone affected, and this was the morningg before the storm: More than 50 tires punctured at local truck stop, Sheriff's Office confirms - WBBJ TV

  • Still in West TN but moving east: More truck tires slashed

• Thank God we have a compassionate intelligent leader in office during this disaster and not a narcissistic bloviating windbag.

• pack mules available for supply hauling

• TN EMA still doesn't want help coming in sending supplies can create challenges for those locally trying to prepare for recovery.

  • TN EMA accepting supplies

  • TN is resilient

  Though TN has seen significant damage following severe storms & flooding, we’ve also seen a picture of hope as the Volunteer State has come together to provide critical resources & aid to impacted communities

  • beyond hilarious

  I’m still without power and if it wasn’t specifically for local good ole boys with tractors and backhoes we’d still be blocked in by multiple felled trees.

• At least 8 arrests for looting so far

• TN National Guard: Since Friday our teams have successfully rescued nearly 75 personnel.

• directions out of asheville

• water receded in Biltmore Village NC

• private helicopters running supplies

  • Fundraiser by Jon Paramore : Support Asheville's Helicopter Rescue Efforts

• NC National guard still exists.

  The North Carolina National Guard deploys military capabilities in support of State authorities in order to protect the lives and properties of fellow Citizens.

• no water in Asheville

• it's taken various state assets over 48 hours to really begin responding

• This is the first hot, fresh meal these folks—INCLUDING STATE TROOPERS—have had in DAYS.

• When a self-described “serial entrepreneur” visits a disaster area

  When a self-described “serial entrepreneur” visits a disaster area despite being told to stay out, and then starts talking “stakeholders,” y’all know what’s happening, right?

• acted like the White House was the holdup

• Why is the local government preventing people from offering aid?

• advice for volunteers

• TVA flood management

• heartening news

  Western NC high school teacher here. Just got internet service back, so I sent an email checking on my students. In 10 minutes, I've heard back from 15. Almost all are either already finding ways to help their neighbors or asked if I knew of places they could volunteer

• Asheville Waffle House is open

  They have hooked us up and are going to help us to feed AN ENTIRE SHELTER this evening in Asheville, NC! Just like the other places we have went, the workers at Waffle House said we have to stick together! They just reopened, and were serving with a smile!!

Horseshit

• Are We Too Impatient to Be Intelligent?

• How did birds survive while dinosaurs went extinct?

• VC has a sexual harassment problem. One woman has a plan to change it

• Automatic takeoffs are coming for passenger jets

• The aesthetic of Cybertrucks, energy drinks, and MMA

  Some may espouse libertarian-ish economics, but most are far more fixated on culture; still others have a hard-to-classify medley of views. They are, however, united by their self-mythologizing as “free thinkers” and a sense of alienation from mainstream liberal discourse. This brand of tech bro is proud of his heterodoxy, despite the fact that the worldview he articulates seems to have been passed top-down from a cadre of influential Silicon Valley executives. Sure, these guys romanticize the idea of working with their hands, but it’s far more likely they spend their days typing on a laptop (or better yet, speaking into a podcast mic). Rather than a remote log cabin, they imagine escaping to their very own civilization on a corporate-owned self-governing city-state — er, “networked state.” They’re not driving lifted trucks; they’re buying bulletproof hunks of metal that look like they came out of Cyberpunk 2077. Like Ron Swanson, they still love animal protein, but now they may be eating it literally raw.

• Destined for clicks: YouTube is driving an astrology boom in Pakistan

• Has the digital nomad trend evolved over the years

  • Digital nomads are a force for good in Latin America

• The Pig Butchering Invasion Has Begun

• America keeps choosing poverty – but it doesn't have to

• Sex and birth are big business – suicide pods show death is next

• The Rat Studies That Foretold a Nightmarish Human Future

• Has Social Media Fuelled a Teen-Suicide Crisis?

• Noah Smith is too down on nuclear energy

• Mazda's $10 Subscription for Remote Start Sparks Backlash

celebrity gossip

• What Terry Crews learned from his NFL career

• Malcolm Gladwell on how he found new tipping points

Obit

• Pete Rose Dies at 83

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• China calls for realtime censorship of satellite broadband

• Study: FB's algorithm didn't promote political polarization. Critics have doubts

• Inside Two Years of Turmoil at Big Tech's Anti-Terrorism Group | WIRED

  The four executives comprised the board of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT)—where companies share tips intended to prevent their platforms from becoming hotbeds for terrorists—and they knew that TikTok needed help keeping extremist propaganda off its platform. TikTok had passed a training program they required and had addressed their questions about its ties to China. But people briefed on the discussions say the board still worried about the possibility of TikTok abusing its membership in some way that benefited the Chinese government and undermined free expression.

• Russian Propagandists Target the West–But Mislead the Kremlin, Too (Archive)

  In early September, the infamous Russian disinformation project known as Doppelganger hit the news again. Doppelganger—a scheme to disseminate fake articles, videos, and polls about polarizing political and cultural issues in the United States, as well as in France, Germany, and Ukraine—was first exposed in 2022 and widely covered in the Western press. The project cloned entire news organizations’ websites—complete with logos and the bylines of actual journalists—and planted its own fake stories, memes, and cartoons, luring casual Internet users to the sites via social media posts, often automated ones.

Musk

• Fidelity has cut X's value by 79% since Musk purchase

  • Musk's $44B Twitter now valued at just $9.4B as X

• Tesla union calls out a 'culture of fear' at a plant

• As Elon Musk lifts humanity, the left has branded him ‘Public Enemy No. 2’

  Democrats, the far left and most of the liberal media loved Elon Musk…until they didn’t. Once he bought Twitter, turned it into X, and made it clear that he was against much of the censorship they had been pushing and for the free speech they opposed, many on the left and in the media turned against him with a vengeance. Almost overnight, Musk became “Public Enemy No. 2.” He will obviously never reach the number one position, since the left has carved former President Donald Trump’s name in granite for that title. But, as Musk also dared to endorse Trump for president, he has a lock on number two forever more. The often-unhinged hostility directed at Musk by some on the left is disturbing. Again, just a few years ago, the left seemingly wanted to erect statutes to Musk as they sang his praises and those of his companies Tesla and SpaceX. Now, aside from hurling ugly pejoratives at him, many on the left also want to cancel SpaceX, Tesla, the hated X and even arrest Musk.

• Tesla, Musk beat shareholder lawsuit over self-driving promises

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• The reason so many men wind up getting promotions

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• California bans legacy admissions at private universities

• Newsom signs bill removing synthetic food dye additives from California schools

  • long live Cochineal

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Epic Games accuses Samsung, Google of scheme to block app rivals

• 'The Simpsons' Aired Its 'Series Finale' on Sunday Night

• The Arch Linux team is now working directly with Valve

• Elastic founder on returning to open source four years after going proprietary

• Redot Engine: A Fork of the Godot Engine

  • Official statement from Godot Foundation board

  If you were blocked in error and haven't violated TOS please contact us"

  • and they disavow the Discord as "unofficial" now that they've created a new one

• Marvel and DC lose 'SUPER HERO' trademarks

• Iridium approved to work on LEO compatibility for upcoming smartphones.

• DirecTV and Dish Are Merging

  • DirecTV agrees to buy Dish for $1

  • Dish and DirecTV to Merge

• The messy WordPress drama, explained

• Verizon Nears Deal to Sell Towers to Vertical Bridge

• Verizon experiencing widespread outage across the US

  • Verizon's mobile services are down across the country

  • Major outage: Verizon confirms it's working to restore service

• Gamer Saves Collection of Video Games from Being Sent to the Dump

• Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible

• PS5 Homescreen Now Replaces Unique Game Art with Annoying Ads You Can't Turn Off

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Reverse-engineering a three-axis attitude indicator from the F-4 fighter plane

• (2016) slip rings suck so: Supplying Power to a Rotating Object, Wirelessly!

  • much else to see TrainElectronics.com Miscellaneous Projects

• Revisiting the DOS memory models - by Julio Merino

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Japan's Shimano gives cyclists an easier ride with AI gear shifter

• What's illegal under California's 18 (and counting) new AI laws

• AI begins its ominous split away from human thinking

• Every White-Collar Role Will Have an AI Copilot. Then an AI Agent

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Engineers investigate another malfunction on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Why the price of eggs is on the rise again

• 36-year-old's Etsy side hustle brings in $220k a year–and costs $40 to start

• US East and Gulf coast ports face shutdown as union announces intent to strike

• Remote Work Was to Reshape the Political and Social Landscape. What Happened?

• Are neobanks driving the fraud industry? I analyzed 7.594 cases

• New titans of Wall Street: How trading firms stole a march on big banks

• First Tech and Digital Federal Credit Union Announce Intent to Combine

• Americans Are More Reliant Than Ever on Government Aid

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• NYC closes tunnel supplying half of its water to address leaks

• Arizona Town Cracks Down on Project Cars with Single 'Inoperable' Vehicle Limit

Harris / Democrats

• Kamala Harris campaign motorcade halted by confused robotaxi

• Driverless cars get stuck on Kamala Harris motorcade

• Walz "linked" to China

  Whistlleblower informs GOPoversight about U.S. intelligence uncovering verified links between the C.C.P. and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz

• Opinion | Kamala Harris is the Only Patriotic Choice for President - The New York Times

  It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline — that he most lacks. Those disqualifying characteristics are compounded by everything else that limits his ability to fulfill the duties of the president: his many criminal charges, his advancing age, his fundamental lack of interest in policy and his increasingly bizarre cast of associates. This unequivocal, dispiriting truth — Donald Trump is not fit to be president — should be enough for any voter who cares about the health of our country and the stability of our democracy to deny him re-election. For this reason, regardless of any political disagreements voters might have with her, Kamala Harris is the only patriotic choice for president.

• KAMALA'S KATRINA? NC Shelters Are Over Capacity, Short on Food, and FEMA's Nowhere to Be Found – Twitchy

Biden Inc

• I am here to tell every single survivor in these impacted areas that we are here for you for as long as it takes.

• committed to traveling to the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene as soon as it doesn’t risk diverting or delaying response assets

Trump / Right / Jan6

• 43-foot nude Trump statue assembled just outside of Las Vegas, sparking conversation

  The statue, which stands 43 feet tall, is named "Crooked and Obscene," according to TMZ. TMZ says the art piece, constructed from foam over rebar and weighing around 6,000 pounds, features a marionette design with movable arms. The site says the team behind the statue aims to spark conversations about the upcoming election. "Barring some sort of outrage, this would seemingly stay up through early November," TMZ added.

• Vance said his two young sons “eat about 14 eggs every single morning.”

  • Vance responds

• Man accused of Trump assassination plot in Florida pleads not guilty

• Right-wing hoax: Letter claims Pennsylvanians will have to provide housing for "homeless immigrants" | Salon.com

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Montana man faces sentencing for cloning sheep to breed for trophy hunts

• Stolen Ferrari worth $575,000 was found by tracking the owner's AirPods

• Systems used by courts and governments across US riddled with vulnerabilities

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Did Industrial Sabotage Stall the Navy's Newest Nuclear Aircraft Carrier?

World

• McDonald's and supermarkets failed to spot slavery

  A gang forced 16 victims to work at either the fast-food restaurant or the factory - which supplied Asda, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. Well-established signs of slavery, including paying the wages of four men into one bank account, were missed while the victims from the Czech Republic were exploited over more than four years. McDonald’s UK said it had improved systems for spotting “potential risks”, while the British Retail Consortium said its members would learn from the case.

• UK to finish with coal power after 142 years

• A multi-billion dollar solar sheep rental industry is taking shape in Australia

• ‘Distinct movement cluster’ evident on Carola bridge in Dresden prior to its collapse | New Civil Engineer

  Following the partial collapse of Carola Bridge in Dresden, Germany last week, research has revealed early indicators of the structure’s instability. The bridge’s collapse occurred on 11 September when a 100m long section gave way into the River Elbe. Value.Space confirmed it had conducted a satellite-based assessment of the Carola Bridge from 14 September 2021 to 4 September 2024 prior to last week’s collapse. Its findings revealed there were significant indicators present prior to the incident to suggest inspection/consultation with on-site engineers would have been necessary.

Israel

• A handshake from a stranger made Nasrallah, traceable to Israelis, reports claim

• Hamas Commander Killed in Israeli Strike Led U.N. Refugee Agency Teachers’ Union

• It is roughly 10:00pm in Israel, and the Invasion of Southern Lebanon has begun

• Israel conducts raids in Lebanon ahead of potential invasion

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Official documents confirm Navalny was poisoned in prison

• How Defense Experts Got Ukraine Wrong - The Atlantic

  One might think that an intelligence failure can be benign: The good guys do far better than expected, the bad guys far worse. In fact, erring on the side of pessimism can be as big a problem as being too bullish. The period just before and after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022, is a good example of this. At the West’s most influential research organizations, prominent analysts—many of them political scientists who follow Russian military affairs—confidently predicted that Russia would defeat its smaller neighbor within weeks. American military leaders believed this consensus, to the point that the Joint Chiefs of Staff chair reportedly told members of Congress that Kyiv could fall within 72 hours of a Russian attack. Although those analysts’ gloomy assessments turned out to be wrong, they’ve nevertheless made the United States and its allies overly cautious in assisting Ukraine in its self-defense.

• Lithuania to Donate 5k FPV Drones to Ukraine

Health / Medicine

• New study casts doubt on loneliness as a cause of many diseases

• Antibiotics can temporarily wipe out the gut microbiome

• Acne rates in UK adolescents and young adults among highest in the world

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• Effect of Covid-19 global lockdown on our Moon

  we report an interesting observation possibly of changing Earth's climate as experienced by the Moon, utilizing a rare and novel context of COVID-19 global lockdown. Lunar night-time surface temperatures of six different sites on the Moon's nearside were analysed during the period 2017–2023. Results showed an anomalous dip in the lunar night-time surface temperatures for all the sites during April–May 2020, the strict COVID-19 global lockdown period, when compared to the values of the same period during the previous and subsequent years. Since the terrestrial radiation has also showed a significant reduction during that time, the anomalous decrease observed in lunar surface temperatures is attributed to the COVID-19 global lockdown effect. Therefore, our study shows that the Moon has possibly experienced the effect of COVID-19 lockdown, visualized as an anomalous decrease in lunar night-time surface temperatures during that period.

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Dutch approval of Glyphosate pesticide influenced by controversial U.S. expert

• Exxon Mobil's 'Advanced' Technique for Recycling Plastic? Burning It

• End of an era as Britain's last coal-fired power plant shuts down

• Koalas are up power poles, on roads, in schools. Outlook for koalas remains poor

• Discovery of 3,775-year-old log supports 'wood vaulting' as a climate solution

• MI nuclear plant finalizes fed loan for first reactor restart in US history

• Central America's agro-ecological suitability for cultivating coca

• Li battery fire sent toxic gas over Montreal. Are we ready for such emergencies?

• Wealthy Carolina Town Worries There's Danger Lurking Under Its Lawns

• Create 'positive tipping points' with climate mandates, governments urged