2024-10-24

spies who know disinformation, Qualcomm disarmed, FOSS excommunications, Insane Clown Endorses Kamala, Kamala calls Trump "Hitler", Last year's conspiracy theory, Tulsi goes GOP, Trump goes Rogan,

etc

• 'Halloween comet' could be visible during daytime this week — here’s the best time to see it

  Comet C/2024 S1, first found at the end of September, will pass around the Earth on Oct. 24, according to planetary astronomer James Wray of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who advises to “look low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.”

• Our Authoritarian Default - by Robin Hanson

  I also think the main reason we are okay with accountability via investigative journalism is that we know authorities have great powers to suppress and retaliate against them. Only media orgs with substantial support among elites could mount a credible criticism of leaders, and we are okay with elites fighting among themselves for whom among them should rule. But we want to keep those fights among elites.

Horseshit

• The Onion head writer takes satire seriously: "Our mandate is just to be funny"

• Reading Lord of the Rings aloud: Yes, I sang all the songs

• The backlash against the world's most hated font may be ending

• People sympathize with bullied AI bots

• Do bike lanes cause more traffic congestion? What the research says

• I Had $100k in Debt So I Moved into My Car

• De-extinction company provides a progress report on thylacine efforts

• The U.S. Government-Bought Tool That Can Track Phones at Abortion Clinics

  Privacy advocates gained access to a powerful tool bought by U.S. law enforcement agencies that can track smartphone locations around the world. Abortion clinics, places of worship, and individual people can all be monitored without a warrant.

• Giant catapult launching satellites into orbit without the need of rocket fuel

  Modern-day Punkin Chunkin contests, which involve launching pumpkins using similar mechanics, showcase kinetic and potential energy in action. SpinLaunch's system might leave some of these enthusiasts wondering how many pumpkins they could send into space with such a machine.

• TikTok is changing how Gen Z speaks

• First wheel may have been invented 6k years ago in the Carpathian Mountains

• How to protect a loved one in cognitive decline from financial harm

• How long can we sustain economic growth?

• There's something off about this year's "fall vibes"

celebrity gossip

• The DeVault report

  Over the years DeVault has been known to butt heads with numerous people in the open source community, partly due to his propensity to be highly opinionated on a wide range of subject matter. Most recently, DeVault penned an investigative report titled "The Stallman Report", targeting Richard Stallman, head of the Free Software Foundation.

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• In a first, Wikipedia takes down article globally after Delhi HC order

• The U.S. Spies Who Sound the Alarm About Election Interference | The New Yorker

  Roughly three thousand employees of various United States spy agencies work there. About two dozen of them are assigned to the Foreign Malign Influence Center—the command hub of the battle to protect the Presidential election from manipulation by foreign powers.

• The most trusted entities we have to offer for the task: Yahoo, McAfee Team Up to Verify Authenticity of News Images

Musk

• What does Elon Musk want from all this politicking?

• Musk vs. Ambani: Billionaires battle over India's satellite internet

• 'Blade Runner 2049' Producers Sue Elon Musk, Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery

• DOJ warns Elon Musk that his $1M giveaway to registered voters may not be legal

• Musk's $1M cash giveaways to swing-state voters prompts warning by Justice Dept

• Tesla Shares Jump 10% After Impressive Q3 2024 Earnings Report

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Palo Alto explores robotaxi deal with Tesla

• GM electric vehicles still not profitable, company sees 'progress'

• A Rubberized Cybertruck Is Plowing Through European Pedestrian Safety Rules

• Tesla has been testing a robotaxi service in the Bay Area for most of the year

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• U.S. Study on Puberty Blockers Goes Unpublished Because of Politics, Doctor Says

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Paper mills: the 'cartel-like' companies behind fraudulent scientific journals

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Feature phones up as folks try to shield kids from internet

• LinkedIn confirms the 'follower purge' was just a bug that's now resolved

• Child-safety case against Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg dismissed

• Online dating code will require Tinder, Hinge to act on dangerous users

• Raspberry Pi announces branded range of NVMe SSDs and SSD kit

  • Raspberry Pi (branded) SSDs and SSD Kits on sale now

• Minecraft Bedrock Will Remove PC VR Support After March

• CISA proposes new security requirements to protect govt, personal data

• Users say T-Mobile must pay for killing "lifetime" price lock

• What happens if the NY Times tech staff strikes on election night? (HN comments)

• Hasbro CEO: "We're going all in on becoming a digital play company"

• Arm cancels Qualcomm's architecture license, endangering its chip business

• The Vision Pro reportedly suspended because of weak demand

• Norway to increase minimum age limit on social media to 15 to protect children

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Sshfs isn't what I wanted for my backup situation

• Fiduciary and CoC violations by the Executive Director of PSF | David Q Mertz

  The PSF (hereafter “Foundation”) Executive Director, Deb Nicholson, has behaved in a manner that is unprofessional, motivated by personal animosity, in violation of Foundation bylaws, and that violated her fiduciary obligations as an employee and officer of the Foundation. As preface I will note that I believe that “sunshine is the best disinfectant.” Therefore, I generally anticipate publication of this letter in public fora.

• IPv6 may already be irrelevant – but so is moving off IPv4

• Linux: Removal of (mostly Russian) email addresses from MAINTAINERS

  • Getting called "Paid Actor" by Linus Torvalds (HN comments)

  Again -- are you under any sort of NDA not to even refer to a list of these countries?

  No, but I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not going to go into the details that I - and other maintainers - were told by lawyers.

  I'm also not going to start discussing legal issues with random internet people who I seriously suspect are paid actors and/or have been riled up by them. -- Linus

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• New Claude AI can take over your computer

• How AI is generating a 'sea of sameness' in job applications

• Rift Between Junior and Senior Developers – O’Reilly

  All this time, they’re training the AI: they’re not training junior developers. In fact, experienced engineers are being encouraged to train generative AI in a way they were never encouraged to invest time in training juniors. And juniors—well, juniors will assume the AI-generated code works. The experienced engineers will be so busy training the AI that they won’t be helping the juniors level up. Juniors won’t have the tools to improve, and senior developers might spend so much time fixing bugs in poorly implemented code from the juniors that the organization might decide that juniors are not only not needed but actually an undesirable productivity drain.

• Scammers are stealing homes from under their owners' noses. AI is making it scarily easy.

• Microsoft and OpenAI are giving news outlets $10M to use AI tools

  • OpenAI, Microsoft fund $10M Lenfest Institute AI local news project

• Lawsuit blames Character.AI in death of 14-year-old boy

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• After nozzle failure, Space Force is "assessing" impacts to Vulcan schedule

• Intelesat: Boeing-made satellite breaks up in space

  • News is remarkable incurious as to what might have happened. "Boeing stuff just blows up, deal" seem to be the attitude.

Crypto con games

• In the Kentucky Mountains, a Bitcoin Mining Dream Turned Into a Nightmare | WIRED

  What looked to facility owners in Kentucky like an irresistible opportunity to tap into a new line of business in an otherwise fallow period has turned into a nightmare. They claim to have been saddled with unpaid hosting fees and energy bills worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, with few options for recovering the money. The Chinese parties have been left equally displeased. “HBTPower obviously regrets that this opportunity has ultimately played out the way it has,” says Samra.

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Private Markets Are Reserved for the Rich. Should a Test Let You In?

• Crises at Boeing and Intel Are a National Emergency

• Boeing CEO says the company must fundamentally change as losses surge

  • Boeing's New CEO Calls for 'Culture Change' as Strike Vote Looms

• Bank of Canada reduces policy rate by 50 basis points to 3¾% – Bank of Canada

• Amazon adds gasoline discounts for Prime members

• Goldman and Apple fined $89M over US credit card programme

• Walgreens to close 1,200 stores across America

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Democrat accidentally 'SHOOTS' reporter with an AR-15 at campaign event | Daily Mail Online

• E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald's restaurants

Harris / Democrats

• Insane Clown Posse’s Violent J Endorses Kamala Harris

  In what surely comes as a heartbreaking disappointment to Donald Trump, Insane Clown Posse’s Violent J has endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Speaking with comedian Troy Iwata for a recent segment on The Daily Show, Violent J confirmed that Harris is his preferred pick for the White House, saying “I want her to win because she’s a Democrat, and I love my mom.” Elsewhere in the interview, he learned how to pronounce Harris’ first name — calling it “fresh” — and weighed in on a number of hot-topic issues, like mass deportation, which he said “fuck no” to. “Now I remember why I hated Trump, that wall shit,” he said.

• Kamala Harris: "Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler,"

  • official tweet

  Donald Trump is out for unchecked power. He wants a military like Adolf Hitler had, who will be loyal to him, not our Constitution. He is unhinged, unstable, and given a second term, there would be no one to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses.

  • Trump wants unchecked power.

  Donald Trump vowed to be a dictator on day one. He vowed to use the military to carry out personal and political vendettas. His former chief of staff said he wanted generals like Hitler’s.

  • Will the Biden / Harris Administration peacefully leave office if they lose the election?

Biden Inc

• (Oct 2023) Republicans float conspiracy theory that Biden won't be on the ballot

  Though no incumbent president has declined to seek a second term since Lyndon Johnson in 1969, there is an unfounded conversation among a faction on the political right that goes something like this: Democratic power brokers will intervene at the last minute to replace a weakened 80-year-old Biden with someone else as the party’s nominee.

• Biden-Harris Admin Announces $428M for Coal Communities

Trump / Right / Jan6

• Yelp disables comments on the McDonald's that hosted Trump after 1-star reviews

• Tulsi Gabbard announces she’s joining the GOP while at NC campaign stop with Trump.

  • Tulsi Gabbard says she's joining the GOP at Trump rally in North Carolina

• Trump Cancels All His Events in Favor of One of the Worst People Ever | The New Republic

  After backing out of several major interviews at the last minute, Donald Trump has one last major appearance on the horizon: The Joe Rogan Experience. The Republican presidential nominee will be meeting with the former Fear Factor host on Friday, reported Politico. It’ll be the first time that Trump has appeared on Rogan’s podcast.

  • Trump set to go on Joe Rogan’s podcast - Live Updates - POLITICO

  Former President Donald Trump is expected to record an interview with podcasting behemoth Joe Rogan on Friday. The interview will take place at Rogan’s studio in Austin, Texas, according to a person familiar with the plans who was granted anonymity to discuss the matter.

• Sister Of Deceased Soldier Blasts The Atlantic For Anti-Trump Lies

• The Atlantic’s newest hit piece on Trump is why we can’t trust media

• The Many Links Between Project 2025 and Trump’s World - The New York Times

  The people behind Project 2025 are no strangers to the former president. The Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin D. Roberts, and a co-founder, Edwin J. Feulner, have each personally met with Mr. Trump. And the analysis of the Project 2025 playbook and its 307 authors and contributors revealed that well over half of them had been in Mr. Trump’s administration or on his campaign or transition teams.

• How Trump Killed Libertarianism

• Karine Jean-Pierre Clarifies President Biden Didn’t Really Mean Trump Had to Be Locked Up

World

• 'Persecuted' son of Singapore founder gains UK asylum

• EU's weak or distracted governments make unity of purpose hard to achieve

• Coins found in Staffordshire farmer's field declared treasure

  The total value of the hoard was five shillings, equivalent to four days pay for a skilled tradesman in 1590. The modern equivalent would be £41.48. The acquiring museum will need to raise funds to save the coins for the public to enjoy, with the finder and landowner sharing the money as a reward for finding them, said PAS.

Israel

• Israel’s Secret Stealth Drone

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Russians accused of crimes offered choice – go to war instead of court

• North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, U.S. confirms

  • U.S. Says North Korean Troops Are in Russia to Aid Fight Against Ukraine

China

• China's 'Thousand Sails' Joins Starlink as Latest Mega-Satellite Constellation

  It’s getting crowded up there in Low Earth orbit (LEO). By now, flocks of Starlinks have become a familiar sight, and the bane of astrophotographers as the ‘vermin of the skies.’ Now, several new competitors have joined the fray, with more waiting in the wings. China also recently joined the competition in LEO, with the launch of a Long March-6 rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center with 18 satellites for Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST). This is part of the company’s ‘Thousand Sails’ initiative. Dubbed China’s answer to Starlink, This will see an initial 1,296 satellites for the constellation placed in orbit by 2027. The company also has plans to expand the network to 12,000 satellites into the 2030s. This first batch went into a polar (sun-synchronous) orbit, and the resulting satellite train was spotted in orbit shortly after launch.

  • China Extends the "Great Firewall" into Space

• The Quarter-Trillion Dollar Rush to Get Money Out of China

• TSMC halts chip supply to customer after finding it in Huawei product

Health / Medicine

• Perth Man Treated for Scurvy

• Neuroscientist finds her brain shrinks while taking birth control | New Scientist

• The Multi-Trillion-Dollar Wellness Industry Is Making Us Sick

• The Maker of Ozempic Is Trying to Block Compounded Versions of Its Drug

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Scientists Say Our Water Cycle Has Started Breaking Down

• Cheap Light Transformed Civilization

• Microbial emissions drove recent record high atmospheric methane growth

• Oriental hornets do not get sick when consuming large amounts of alcohol

• Greenland Is Gorgeous and Uncrowded. Now Here Come the Americans

• Scientists use fake dolphin carcasses to study real dolphin strandings

• The Demonization of CO2: Challenging the Prevailing Narrative

• What the Sustainable Cities of Tomorrow Could Look Like

• Climate expert on potential collapse of Atlantic circulation

• Half a pound of this powder can remove as much CO2 from the air as a tree

• Trying to reverse climate change won't save us, scientists warn