2024-12-24

drone steals boy's heart, time and gravity related, Luigi pleads, Biden forgets forgiveness, 43in Sony Trinitron, Honda+Nissan, Xerox+Lexmark, all but 3, China chip probe, mainstream drugs, fossil hydrogen

etc

• Ugandan runner due to arrive in London after 516 days, 7,700 miles on the road

• 7-year-old boy hit by drone in downtown Orlando holiday show

  Adriana Edgerton said the person injured was her 7-year-old son Alexander. She said her son is undergoing open-heart surgery after being hit in the chest by the drone. Edgerton said that her family was watching the drone show when multiple drones fell from the sky, and one hit her son. The boy underwent hours of open-heart surgery Sunday after the drone struck his chest with such force that it damaged one of his heart valves, Edgerton said. “The blade cut his mouth, but there’s an actual imprint of the drone on his chest,” she said.

  • Synchronized drone light show failure injures boy

• Scientists Claim Dark Energy does not Exist, and Accelerated Expansion of Universe is an Illusion Caused by Gravity slowing down time.

  Researchers at the University of Canterbury, led by Professor David Wiltshire, offer an alternative explanation that removes the need for dark energy altogether. Their timescape model proposes that the appearance of an accelerating Universe is an illusion caused by the uneven effects of gravity on time. The theory hinges on a key principle of Einstein’s general relativity: gravity can distort the flow of time. In regions of space with strong gravitational fields, such as galaxies, time runs more slowly compared to vast, empty voids in the cosmos. These differences in time dilation mean that clocks in galactic regions would measure billions of years less than clocks in cosmic voids.

• 174 people rescued by rope after being stuck on Colorado ski lift gondolas for hours

• Hawaii's Kilauea volcano sends lava gushing to the surface in latest eruption

Luigi

• Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to State Murder, Terrorism Charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Murder | The Epoch Times

  The man who prosecutors say shot and killed the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare entered a not guilty plea on murder, terrorism, and other charges brought by state prosecutors in New York. Luigi Mangione, 26, entered his not guilty plea via a microphone in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday morning. He was formally charged last week with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism, in a state case by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

• Luigi Mangione's attorney blasts police, mayor for using the accused CEO killer as 'political fodder' - ABC News

• Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to murder and weapons charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s death - WTOP News

• Luigi Mangione and the American Abyss

• I Was a Health Insurance Executive. What I Saw Made Me Quit.

Horseshit

• Good cities can't exist without public order

• TikTok / IG prankster arrested for spraying pesticide on grocery store produce

• Nuclear bunker sales increase, despite warnings

• What Economists Could Learn from George Costanza

celebrity gossip

• Denzel Washington gets baptized, receives minister's license

• Bill Clinton admitted to hospital for ‘testing and observation’ after falling ill | Fox News

  "President Clinton was admitted to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital this afternoon for testing and observation after developing a fever. He remains in good spirits and deeply appreciates the excellent care he is receiving," Angel Urena wrote.

Obit

• Crocodile from hit film Crocodile Dundee dies peacefully, zoo says

  Burt was captured for the first time in the 1980s, the zoo said, and he appeared in Crocodile Dundee just before Christmas in 1986. He starred alongside Paul Hogan in the film, helping to "shape Australia's image as a land of rugged natural beauty and awe-inspiring wildlife".

Bluesky

• propaganda fountain: Echo Chamber, Town Square, or Den of Iniquity: What Is Bluesky, Really?

Musk

• X jacks up Premium+ prices 37.5%, hits some markets harder

• Tesla wants to kill EV incentives in US, but it is lobbying for them elsewhere

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Robot taxi riders in San Francisco targeted with a new form of harassment

• Some Passengers Riding in Waymo's Driverless Cars Face Uncomfortable Situations

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• They Helped Create DEI–and Even They Say It Needs a Makeover

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Schools Spend Millions on a Safety Measure to Stop Bullets. It Doesn't Work

• Academic writing is getting harder to read–the humanities most of all

• Despite censorship we continue to demand: no more research for genocide at MIT

• Student loan forgiveness plans withdrawn by Biden administration

  The Education Department posted notices in the Federal Register on Friday that it was withdrawing the plans, weeks before President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The department wrote that it was terminating the rulemaking proceeding due to “operational challenges in implementing the proposals.” It said it would “commit its limited operational resources” in these final weeks of the administration “to helping at-risk borrowers return to repayment successfully.”

• Texas school district bans the Bible because of its sexual content

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• CNN Sees Lowest Ratings in Network History in 2024.

• Pavel Durov: Telegram is now profitable

  • Telegram is now profitable, revenue in 2024 surpasses $1B

• Meta to add display to Ray-Bans as race over smart glasses intensifies

• Redditors Revive Gift Exchanges After Imgur Cancels Secret Santa Program

• NSO Group Found Liable for Hacking WhatsApp Users in 'Huge Win for Privacy'

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Shedding light on a three-month suspension

  There’s one brilliant person I had been low-grade mentoring toward becoming a core dev who wants nothing to do with it anymore. And more than one current core dev has been considering quitting (enough so that I made an entry in my Ban Q&A page asking them not to). One core dev I know of did quit already, although only partly due to the drama over this, One Fellow I know of resigned that honor, and more are waiting to see what happens. All of which would be net losses to me, and to the PSF too. Including the person you have in mind.

• Phrack 72 "40th Anniversary Edition" Call for Papers

• Travails of electronic manufacturing: The small link at the end of the chain

• The Journey to Save the Last Known 43-Inch Sony CRT

  The Sony KX-45ED1, also known as the PVM-4300, was a 43-inch CRT television released in 1989. Weighing a staggering 440 pounds without its stand, it was more engineering marvel than practical home appliance. Retailing for $40,000 (over $100,000 today), it pushed the boundaries of what CRTs could achieve, offering professional-grade performance. For years, this massive CRT was thought to be a myth, with scant evidence of its existence—just a few photos and an incomplete manual. The TV had become the 'Bigfoot' of CRTs, sparking debates among collectors over whether any had actually survived to this day.

  • HN comments

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Susceptibility of large language models to cognitive impairment

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• UFOs: What the US government might not be telling us

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Nissan and Honda announce merger plans to create no. 3 automaker

  • Honda and Nissan officially begin merger talks to be 3rd-largest automaker

  • Honda, Nissan agree to discuss merger, signalling industry shift

  • Honda and Nissan plan to merge in 2026

  • Nissan and Honda officially announce plans to merge

  • Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi Will Become One of the Largest Car Companies

• Xerox to Acquire Lexmark (HN comments)

  • Xerox to Buy Printer Maker Lexmark from Chinese Owners

• Volkswagen managers face 10% pay cut as part of bonus reduction plan

  • Volkswagen reaches union deal to cut 35,000 German jobs after gruelling talks

• Venture Capital Partners Are Leaving Big Firms in Droves

• Nordstrom Family to Take Company Private in $6.25B Deal

• Electric aircraft startup Lilium ceases operations, 1k workers laid off

• Why you should pay down your low-interest mortgage

  • Insurance and Taxes Now Cost More Than Mortgages for Many Homeowners

• CFPB Sues Walmart and Branch Messenger for Illegally Opening Deposit Accounts

• Shrinking US bar tabs signal little festive cheer for liquor makers

• The Container Store files for bankruptcy

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Coke, PepsiCo Lobby to Keep Sugary Sodas in Food-Stamp Program

• We Have the Long-Awaited News About Who Will Control the Minnesota State House.

• Statement of the Committee on Ethics Regarding Representative Matt Gaetz - House Committee on Ethics

  • Key Takeaways from House Ethics report on Matt Gaetz misconduct

• Nebraska governor's prognosis is good after falling from a horse

• Denver City Council approves ban on sales of flavored tobacco products.

Trump

• Trump appoints college football player Bo Hines to head crypto council

• Sriram Krishnan named Trump's senior policy advisor for AI

• Trump says he hasn't "ceded the presidency" to Elon Musk

• Trump picks billionaire financier for deputy defense secretary

• Trump makes defense, Doge and Latin America envoy picks for administration

Democrats / Biden Inc

• Biden Commutes Sentences of 37 Death Row Inmates

  • Biden Commutes Sentences Of Dozens On Death Row | ZeroHedge

  President Joe Biden on Monday announced that he is commuting the sentences of 37 out of 40 prisoners currently sitting on the federal government's death row - which will reclassify their sentences to life without the possibility of parole. The three men who were not spared for "terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder" are: "Robert D. Bowers, 52, who in 2018 gunned down 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh; Dylann Roof, 30, who opened fire on Black parishioners in 2015 at a church in Charleston, SC, killing nine people; and Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 31. Biden’s commutations are final and cannot be overturned. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” the president said in his statement.

  • Biden commutes death sentences of child killers and mass murderers 2 days before Christmas.

  • The Three Death Row Prisoners Biden Chose Not to Spare

• How vengeful Jill Biden is urging 'depressed' Joe to 'burn the whole thing down' in their final days

Left Angst

• Trump 2.0: New Deal or crime spree?

• Fetterman believes ‘fascist’ label of Trump did not connect with people.

• DeLauro in Letter to Congressional Leadership: Musk Chaos in Government Funding Process Protects His Chinese Investments

  I write to express significant concerns with the influence and potential conflicts of interest that unelected multibillionaire Elon Musk has wielded to sow last-minute chaos throughout the government funding process. It is particularly disturbing that Musk may have sought to upend this critical negotiated agreement to remove a bipartisan provision regulating U.S. investments in China in order to protect his wallet and the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of American workers, innovators, and businesses. Despite the four corners of the Appropriations Committees and Congressional leadership having reached a government funding agreement earlier this week, Republican leadership caved at the last minute to the demands of “President” Musk to shut down the government and strip out hundreds of pages of critical provisions that would have reauthorized important programs to support American workers and families. One key provision that Republicans’ new government funding bill stripped out: a bill to screen U.S. investments in critical sectors in China.

• Israel concerned 'wild card' Musk could share sensitive data with others

• Why is Trump threatening to take over the Panama Canal?

  • China Hits Back at Trump on Panama Canal as Questions Grow over Influence

• Greenland Hits Back After Trump’s Dangerous, Asinine Threat

  • Trump believes Greenland is for sale

• Trump & crypto: How friendly is too friendly?

• Review by Senate Democrats finds more unreported luxury trips by Clarence Thomas

• Immigrants with Temporary Protected Status fear deportation as Trump returns

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Woman dies after being set on fire on NYC subway

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Palantir and Anduril join forces with tech groups to bid for Pentagon contracts

• US launches probe into legacy Chinese chips, tech pressure on Beijing escalates

  • US launches probe into ongoing China dominance of legacy semiconductor market

  • Biden launches new Chinese chips trade probe, will hand off to Trump

  • US targets China with probe into semiconductor industry

• US Says China to Build 1,000 Nukes by 2030 in Staggering Annual Report.

• The Monthlong White House Effort to Quell New Jersey Drone Frenzy

World

• Goodbye to Berlin, Europe's self-effacing capital

• France Links First New Nuclear Reactor to Grid Since 1999

• Vietnam to enforce strict social media regulations in 'draconian' new decree

• As South Korea draws visitors chasing beauty, dodgy practices pose risks

• Cook Islands plan break with New Zealand

• Australian Navy seeks hs grads for nuclear sub jobs–$120k,'no experience' needed

Israel

• Former Mossad agents reveal secrets of 10-year exploding pager operation

China

• Paraguay probing suspicious Huawei-owned vehicle seen near Taiwan envoy's house

China refused investigation into ship linked to severed Baltic cables

Health / Medicine

• What your peeing frequency can say about your health

• Brain cells in the in the abdomen help form the gut-brain connection

• FDA Finalizes Updated "Healthy" Nutrient Content Claim

• Opinion | As Drug Culture Becomes Mainstream, Our Language Needs To Evolve. - The New York Times

  It’s becoming impossible to count all the options we have these days for altering our consciousness with chemicals and plants. You can buy ketamine from club drug dealers on your phone, or by mail from online medical clinics to treat depression. Alongside vapes and gummies, C.B.D. dispensaries sell kratom, an herbal stimulant that some people use to boost work productivity and others to detox from opioids. Cannabis sellers may or may not be legally licensed, and may also sell psychedelic mushrooms. Some people source their Xanax or Adderall from sites on the dark web, others from a physician. Those seeking an alternative to coffee can head to a kava bar to sip an herbal narcotic long used in traditional Polynesian medicine. The old distinction between medical and recreational drugs is breaking down. It’s no longer clear what even counts as a drug anymore.

• Having Your Tonsils Out as a Child May Have a Drastic Impact on Your Life.

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• WSDA, USDA announce eradication of northern giant hornet from the United States

• The New Climate Gold Rush: Scrubbing Carbon from the Sky

• Earth's subsurface may hold up to 5.6 × 10⁶ million metric tons of hydrogen

• Glysophate being investigated in mysterious New Brunswick neurological disease

• Are we living through the end of wildlife migrations?

• EU bans BPA in food materials

• Wildfire smoke's health risks can linger long-term in homes that escape burning