2024-11-15
real beats feels, RV's outlawed, game theory wankery, X biases, Onion buys Infowars, GOP takes House, Gaetz resigns, RFK for HHS, Kamala and Joe, election denial, China is listening to our phones
etc
-
Mystery uncovered of photographer and forbidden photos of Nazi-occupied France : NPR
- They attribute the work to Raoul Minot, who was apparently killed in a concentration camp in 1943, for taking the pictures.
-
This is where the real damage happens. When people believe that their feelings define reality, they’re incredibly easy to manipulate. Outrage and fear are powerful tools, and when a generation feels those things deeply, they’re willing to do almost anything to relieve the discomfort. They’ll silence dissenting voices, censor ideas that make them uncomfortable, demand safe spaces and thought-policing, all in the name of protecting their feelings. It’s psychological quicksand: the more they try to control their environment to feel “safe” or “validated,” the more vulnerable they become to any shift in their emotional state. While they’re obsessing over the sanctity of their emotions, they’re being pulled further and further away from reality. They stop looking at hard facts, at inconvenient truths, at anything that might challenge the bubble they’ve built around themselves. They become easy targets for anyone who promises to reinforce their worldview, no matter how disconnected from reality it might be. Politicians, advertisers, social media influencers—everyone can get a slice of the pie. Just whisper the right words, make them feel a certain way, and watch them line up to follow the script.
Horseshit
-
The Persistent Urban Shortfall in Leisure and Hospitality Employment
-
Neurosurgeon prepared to perform first human head transplant
-
RV Sales To Be Banned Across Six States As California Climate Rules Take Effect.
Motorhome sales are being prevented in California, Washington, Oregon, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey if the vehicles do not meet certain emission requirements based on regulations from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), according to RVtravel. CARB amended its Advanced Clean Truck regulations on Oct. 24, which require all vehicles over 8,500 pounds to produce zero emissions. Motorhome owners in the six states will not be allowed to register a recreational vehicle (RV) that is not in compliance with the climate regulation, according to RVtravel.
-
Smart Thermostats Pitched For Texas Homes To Relieve Stressed Grid
It’s not much of a secret that Texas’ nearly completely isolated grid is in a bit of a pickle, with generating capacity often being handily outstripped during periods of extreme demand. In a latest bid to fight this problem, smart thermostats are being offered to customers, who will then participate in peak-shaving. The partnership between NRG Energy Inc., Renew Home LLC, and Alphabet Inc. will see about 650,000 of these thermostats distributed to customers. For customers the incentive would be mostly financial, though the details on the potential cost savings seem scarce.
-
The Early Christian Strategy - by Scott Alexander
There was an old 2010s meme video about all the characters in all the comics and TV shows fighting, and in the end the one who came out on top was “Mr. Rogers, in a bloodstained sweater”. Human history is the cosmic version of that meme. After all the Vikings and steppe nomads and Spartans have had their way with each other, the leading ideology of the 21st century thus far appears to be a hyper-Christian bleeding-heart liberalism: COOPERATE-BOT in a bloodstained sweater. I don’t know why this keeps happening, but I wouldn’t count it out.
-
Sega Is Making an Emoji-Only Pager That's Sending Us Back to the 1990s
-
Four Charged w/ insurance fraud after allegedly dressing as bears to damage cars
celebrity gossip
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
-
A call for reporters who truly report
We have a constant bumper crop of journalists who engage in the act of prescription. They tell us what we should think, how we should feel, and how we should respond to their messages to build the world according to their vision. But what we need is a journalism of description. We need them to tell us what has actually been said and what has happened. We do not need them to try and build out an emotional landscape in which their own political preferences are taken for granted.
-
- They don't even mention the efforts of other governments.
Musk
-
Zeng told Musk the 4680 battery “is going to fail and never be successful. We had a very big debate, and I showed him. He was silent.” “He doesn’t know how to make a battery. It’s about electrochemistry. He’s good for the chips, the software, the hardware, the mechanical things.” “I talked to him,” Zeng said. “Maybe something needs five years, but he says two years. I definitely asked him why. He told me he wanted to push people. He probably himself thinks it needs five years, but if you believe him when he says two years, you will be in big trouble.”
-
(2015) Musk's growing empire is fueled by $4.9B in government subsidies
-
xAI's new AI datacenter has been approved to increase its power consumption from 8MW to 150MW.
-
Italian president tells Musk to quit meddling in Italy's politics
-
Analysis of algorithmic bias on platform X during the 2024 US election
comparing Republican-leaning and Democrat-leaning accounts, we again observed an engagement shift around the same date, affecting all metrics. However, only view counts showed evidence of a group-specific boost, with Republican-leaning accounts exhibiting a significant post-change increase relative to Democrat-leaning accounts. This finding suggests a possible recommendation bias favouring Republican content in terms of visibility, potentially via recommendation mechanisms such as the "For You" feed. Conversely, retweet and favourite counts did not display the same group-specific boost, indicating a more balanced distribution of engagement across political alignments.
- Now do the same for the previous 2 elections. They're not upset about a thumb on the scales when its on the "proper" side.
-
Elon Musk Met with Iran's U.N. Ambassador, Iranian Officials Say
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
-
Mozilla's Firefox browser turns 20. Does it still matter? (HN comments)
-
1.5M Americans hit in massive debt relief service data breach
-
Apple accused of trapping and ripping off 40M iCloud customers
-
Faulty Colorsofts have left some Kindle owners without an e-reader
-
Gotta collect 'em all: New Pokemon trading card game becomes big hit
-
ABC brass scramble to bring in pro-Trump voices to The View and other shows: ‘Panic mode.’
-
TV Networks Embrace Their Aging Audience with a New Mantra: Age Doesn't Matter
TechSuck / Geek Bait
-
Virtual Trackballs: An Interactive Taxonomy
I apologize in advance – after reading this, you’ll probably notice precession in an annoyingly large fraction of 3D interfaces. But perhaps that’s a good thing. The more we understand these subtle aspects of 3D interaction, the better we can make our interfaces for everyone.
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
Crypto con games
Economicon / Business / Finance
-
Asda security chief replaced, retailer sheds jobs during Walmart tech divorce
-
SoftBank returns to profit as Indian IPOs boost Vision Fund gains
-
Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
- a representative comment from one discussion:
I have to show there are or aren’t any residents or citizens that can fill the job. The main problem is: even if the interviewee knocks it out of the park, is an amazing engineer, I still am not interested in firing my OPT/h1b team member who can still legally work for 2-3 years. So while I will deny their green card application and not submit it, I also won’t hire the interviewee
-
Amazon launches Temu and Shein rival with 'crazy low' prices
-
Advance Auto Cuts Outlook, Prepares 700-Store Closure | ZeroHedge
Advance Auto's board approved a restructuring plan to reduce its US footprint by 700 stores and four distribution centers by mid-2025. Plans to slash jobs were also in place, yet official figures were not given. Th company has about 5,000 stores nationwide.
-
Boeing issues layoff notices as aerospace giant cuts 17,000 jobs
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
Trump
-
Matt Gaetz resigns from Congress - POLITICO
The House Ethics Committee, which has been investigating allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, was prepared to vote to release a highly critical report about Mr. Gaetz on Friday, according to a Republican official familiar with the matter. The release would have come two days after President-elect Donald J. Trump selected Mr. Gaetz to be attorney general. Mr. Gaetz, a Florida Republican, abruptly resigned from his House seat late Wednesday, effectively ending the ethics investigation that has hung over his head for years. Mr. Gaetz, the official said, had repeatedly offered combative replies to questions posed by the committee, effectively delaying the fact-finding process for months. The publication of the committee’s findings was additionally delayed, the official said, because of a House rule that forbids releasing a negative report close to an election. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive investigation. Now, with Mr. Gaetz’s departure from Congress, the committee no longer has jurisdiction to investigate him. It was not immediately clear whether it would still release its findings. Tom Rust, the chief counsel and staff director for the panel, declined to comment.
-
Did Trump Really Call Putin Late Last Week?
The Washington Post’s (WaPo) report alleging that Trump called Putin the Thursday after he won the election and told him not to escalate the conflict was contradicted by both the Kremlin and Kiev. The first called it “pure fiction” while the second said that it was “unaware” of the call despite allegedly being informed of it. The Trump team hasn’t commented on it at the time of writing. Nevertheless, the report’s timeframe raises questions about its credibility, which will now be elaborated on. It can only be speculated why Putin would lie about this if that’s indeed what happened, which is unlikely, and it’s also equally unlikely that he’d agree to have a detailed discussion with Trump between midnight and 8am in the morning after the prior evening’s long Q&A session. After all, these sorts of calls aren’t impromptu but are arranged ahead of time, and Putin could always have rescheduled. Therefore, WaPo’s report is probably fake news, thus making one wonder why it was published in the first place.
-
All bark, no bite? Musk's DOGE unlikely to have any real power
-
Arizona Judge In 2020 Electors Case Demanded Judges Defend Kamala Harris – Arizona Daily Independent
In emails obtained by Arizona State Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Travis Grantham, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen demanded that all judges and all commissioners — especially those who were white and/or male — defend Kamala Harris and other people of color. Cohen is the presiding judge over the case against the 2020 electors for President Donald Trump. Those who sided with Trump face felony charges of fraud, forgery, and conspiracy. Cohen equated Harris’ critics to the Nazis, and said that those who refused to stand up for Harris as well as other females and “colleagues who identify as being a ‘person of color’” were as bad as those who allowed the evil of the Holocaust to take place.
-
Trump Humiliates Elon Musk in Front of House Republicans
During his first meeting with Republican lawmakers on the Hill as president-elect, Trump asserted his power over Musk, mocking the tech billionaire for sticking around for so long. “Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him,” Trump said Wednesday. “Until I don’t like him.”
The world’s richest man has reportedly spent “nearly every single day” of the last week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to CNN. Musk has been spotted golfing with the president-elect, dining with him and his wife, Melania, and has even been in the room while Trump phones world leaders, hopping on calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell argued that Trump’s comments about Musk were an assertion of his dominance, played before a room that has to play along.
- I think this is one of the publications that referred to groping kids in public as "Biden's playful interactions with children."
-
Trump’s team drawing up list of Pentagon officers to fire, sources say.
-
oh my Trump Announces Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As Secretary of Health and Human Services
For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health. The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!
-
Javier Milei becomes first world leader to meet Trump since election win
Democrats / Biden Inc
-
Enough with the Celebrity Endorsements in Politics
The idea that celebrities could somehow use their cultural power to get fans to vote for certain candidates struck me as ridiculous at best, and snobby and condescending at worst. That’s how I felt throughout September, as folks waited for Taylor Swift to Instagram her endorsement; as we waited to see if Beyoncé was “in” and possibly performing at the Democratic National Convention; as Bruce Springsteen, our icon of American essence, showed up for Kamala Harris too. As these insanely famous people—one of them literally referred to as a queen—appeared during elaborate (and expensive) Harris events, I kept wondering: why?
-
The talks faltered because of concerns at how the interview would be perceived within the Democratic party, said Jennifer Palmieri, a senior adviser to Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff. There was a backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn’t want her to be on it, and how there would be a backlash,” Palmieri said on Wednesday.
Left Angst
-
As a dissident former leftist, I can explain why Trump won.
Going into the election, I was scolded by people telling me why what I was prioritizing in my voting choice was wrong. COVID-19 is over. Boys in girls’ sports isn’t happening. No one is getting censored. You’re getting it all wrong. Subtext: You’re an idiot influenced by far-right loons, and you’re a bigot to the core. What happened to you, Jen?
Here’s what happened to me. I get to care about what I want to care about. And for the last 10 years, the far Left has been not only telling us what we need to care about but smearing us and canceling us if we don’t agree. We dissident former lefties have been called racists, misogynists, Nazis, grandma-killers, transphobes, bigots, and fascists and generally cast aside as unworthy of employment or membership in polite society. The election was a big middle finger to all of that. The Left canceled too many of us. The outcasts spoke up and rejected the crazy on Nov. 5. Sure, we may have chosen our own brand of crazy. But, that brand of crazy knows men and women are different, boys don’t belong in girls’ sports, inflation is real, free speech is the most fundamental right in a democracy, and Vice President Kamala Harris was installed, not elected, as the Democratic candidate.
-
The Lesson of This Election: We Must Stop Inflation Before It Starts - The New York Times
Unemployment weakens governments. Inflation kills them. That’s what a government official from Brazil once told me. But in rich countries including the United States, the politically destructive power of inflation had been forgotten. Standard policy tools left us unprepared and the Biden administration was slow to fight back. The re-election of Donald Trump should serve as a warning to democratic governments.
-
Supporting coworkers, employees, and friends in this time
An election just finished in the US, which means that half the country lost and has to face the coming changes. In particular, this is a scary time for many folks who have been targets in the past couple of years, with escalating legislation against access to gender-affirming care. So, what do we do concretely right now to help each other? This has two parts: what folks need, and how best to help meet those needs. I hope this list helps everyone see that none of us is powerless, and each of us has things we can do, today, to make a difference. If you're affected by recent events, you can keep this list handy as an answer when someone asks "what can I do to support you?"
-
A group of computer security experts have written to Vice President Kamala Harris to alert her to the fact that voting systems were breached by Trump allies in 2021 and 2022 and to urge her to seek recounts in key states to ensure election verification. Following the 2020 election, operatives working with Trump attorneys accessed voting equipment in order to gain copies of the software that records and counts votes. The letter to Vice President Harris argues that this extraordinary and unprecedented breach in election system security merits conducting recounts of paper ballots in order to confirm computer-generated tallies. The letter also highlights the fact that the post-election audits in many key states will be conducted after certification and after the window to seek recounts closes, and that therefore recounts should be sought promptly.
- Will Dominion be suing these people for billions for daring to suggest elections need verification?
-
How to Abolish the Electoral College & Why the NPV Compact Falls Short
Personally, while I sympathize with ideas against direct democracy, the majority of pro-electoral-college support comes from the practical reasons of Republicans wanting to win. If you inherit a system that benefits you, that’s largely benign but perhaps slightly harmful to society, it’s relatively easy to rationalize this system after the fact. If people can use the Bible to justify antebellum slavery, then it should be very easy to rationalize the E.C.
-
If You Like Being Ripped Off by Comcast, You'll Love Trump's Likely New FCC Boss
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
-
NYPD gets green light to launch drones remotely across New York City
-
Diesel Tuners Indicted for Smuggling $33M in Defeat Devices into US
In this case, it was actually a group of four business owners who were investigated by the EPA, FBI, and IRS for smuggling tens of millions of dollars worth of illegal tuning equipment into the United States. It’s a messy story that involves accusations of conspiring, money laundering, and a shell corporation based in the Cayman Islands. One of the defendants even said over email in 2020 that they were on “borrowed time” with the federal government, though they continued selling illegal parts for three more years.
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
-
PRC Targeting of Commercial Telecommunications Infrastructure
Specifically, we have identified that PRC-affiliated actors have compromised networks at multiple telecommunications companies to enable the theft of customer call records data, the compromise of private communications of a limited number of individuals who are primarily involved in government or political activity, and the copying of certain information that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders. We expect our understanding of these compromises to grow as the investigation continues.
-
"that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests" == "They're using the backdoors we required be opened"
-
CIA Officer Arrested in Cambodia for ‘Deadly Serious’ Leak of Classified US Docs on Israel.
World
-
Cross-border challenges widen wealth gap between Europe and US, IMF study finds
-
Apple facing near-£3B UK lawsuit over cloud storage 'monopoly'
-
One person dead following two explosions near Brazil's Supreme Court
-
Alitalia Doesn't Exist Anymore, but Italy's Still Paying 2k 'Ghost' Employees
-
EU economy performs better against the U.S. if you consider the right data
-
Sneaky non-representative global governance goes interplanetery: Denmark becomes 48th nation to sign Artemis Accords for space exploration.