2025-01-03

truck links, spherical egg, Tesla sales down, Carvana shade, Net neutrality neutered, record regulations, agreeing with Anne, LAPD dispatch down, Taiwan unfazed by doom, China automaker scams

etc

• Ten cool science stories we almost missed

Truck Attacks

• The Cybertruck that exploded and the New Orleans vehicle both rented using Turo

  • HN comments

  • Trucks in New Orleans Attack and Las Vegas Explosion Were Rented Using Turo - The New York Times

  The owner of the Ford pickup truck used in New Orleans recognized his vehicle when he saw footage showing the truck and license plate on the news. He had rented the truck to a 42-year-old Army veteran who then used it to ram into crowds on Bourbon Street, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. The truck’s owner, who did not want his name used, said that he had been renting five cars on Turo as a second income stream but that he did not plan to use the platform again after the attack. In Las Vegas, the police said during a news conference that the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel’s lobby entrance, killing one and injuring at least seven others, was also rented from Turo. Officials called it a “coincidence” and said they were continuing to investigate any possible connections. Turo did not respond to requests for comment.

• Musk: The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack

• Inside terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s squalid home where sheep and goats roam his yard — after his financial ruin.

  The terrorist who killed 15 people when he plowed his truck down crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans was an American-born military veteran who was living in a run-down trailer park where he kept sheep and goats in the yard — just blocks away from the local mosque. Geese, chickens, and sheep roamed freely in Jabbar’s yard when The Post visited hours after the attack. By mid-afternoon the feds swooped in — kicking The Post and other journalists out of the area and cordoning it off.

  • NY Post was there before the FBI

• Vehicle Used in New Orleans Terror Attack Crossed the Border Two Days Ago. Trump Responds.

• New Twists In Cybertruck Explosion in Las Vegas, Elon Musk Gives Updates.

• Vegas Cybertruck Explosion Suspect ID’d, Army Vet Served at Same Base As Bourbon St. Attacker.

• Feds Probe Possible Military Link Between Suspects In Bourbon Street Massacre & Trump Hotel Cybertruck Blast | ZeroHedge

• Tesla Cybertruck Voted 'Worst Vehicle' By National Association Of Terrorist Car Bombers | Babylon Bee

Horseshit

• CA bans food 'sell by' dates. Will it save you money without getting you sick?

• Suicide Most Common on Two Days of the Week

• Eight things that shouldn't have happened last year, but did

• Spherical egg sells at auction for £200

• 1,800 Miles to Satisfy a Craving: The Most Dedicated Food-Delivery Guy

• 'I could work every day of the week': life of a UK pet detective as thefts rise

• US culture breeds 'laziness' and 'mediocrity

  • rent seeking and outright theft, too

• The Levi Strauss Heir Elected to Save San Francisco

• The Speed of Human Thought Is Far Slower Than the Average Wi-Fi, Study Suggests

• It's Still Easier to Imagine the End of the World Than the End of Capitalism

• A Canadian Ultrarunner Was Arrested in India for Carrying a Garmin InReach

• The Peter Principle explains why your boss is incompetent

• Why people over the age of 55 are the new problem generation

• Airlines are going premium. Will cheap tickets be harder to find?

• Why medieval manuscripts are full of doodles of snail fights

  • Nah. Really, the earth was once ruled by giant snails. not that long ago. "They" dont want anyone to know, because they're working with the land mollusk menace themselves.

• It's easy to sneer at this when you have a good well: For Those Who Don't Trust Tap, There's 'Raw Water'

celebrity gossip

• Neil Young pulls out of Glastonbury: festival 'under corporate control' of BBC

  • Hmmm... How' his boycott of ... Spotify, was it? for hosting Rogan or something... hows that going?

Obit

• Journalist Joe Galloway, Chronicler of Vietnam War, Dies

Bluesky

• (Video) Bluesky Bans Lunduke for Having Common Views

• If You've Signed Up for Bluesky, You've Signed Up for Offloadable Moderation

Musk

• What It's Like to Work for Elon Musk - Genius, Chaos, and Burnout

• Musk: "First Amendment is protection for 'free speech', not 'paid speech' ffs."

• Elon Musk Uses Cybertruck Explosion to Show Tesla Can Remotely Unlock / Monitor

• Tesla's Annual EV Sales Decline for First Time in over a Decade

  • Tesla confirms delivery of 495,570 EVs, way below its own guidance

  • Tesla reports 1.1% sales drop for 2024, first annual decline in at least 9 years

  • Tesla shares slide after it reports first drop in annual deliveries

  • Tesla has sluggish start to the year with first annual sales decline in a decade

• What Should Tesla's Stock Be Worth?

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Tesla Is Recalling Cybertruck Batteries

• China's BYD closes in on Tesla as sales jump

• On roads teeming with robotaxis, crossing the street can be harrowing

• Tesla Cybertruck sales are disastrous

• In Norway, nearly all new cars sold in 2024 were fully electric

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• The hands-on lab of an experimental archaeologist

• A University President Accused of Squandering Public Money Resigns in Exchange for a $2 Million Payout.

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Autodesk deletes old forum posts suddenly

• Over 3.1M fake "stars" on GitHub projects used to boost rankings

• Pornhub ban now covers more than a third of US states

• We're All in 'Dark Mode' Now

  • "paper white screens" was a marketing aberration from the CRT days when "bright blur" was better than "dark blur" with low resolution GUIs.

• Telegram rolls out third-party account verification, filters

• Satellite phone services are coming, and Starlink will be first

• Meta to appoint Republican Joel Kaplan to lead policy team;Nick Clegg steps down

  • Nick Clegg, former UK deputy prime minister, leaves Meta

• Siri "unintentionally" recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M

• I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

• Australia Banned Kids from Social Media. Now It Has Advice for the US

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• HN Jobs:

  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2025)

  • Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (January 2025)

  • Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (January 2025)

• Ask HN: Was GitHub responsible for today's high Skill Obsolescence Rate? | Hacker News

  from the very beginning its fostered a very ego-driven environment amongst unicorn developers to prove their new wheel is better than the last wheel. We've been stuck in wheel factories where every wheel is a different design -- sometimes better, sometimes worse, sometimes a wash -- when the wheels we had from 5 years ago could have built the wagon of today just fine. I don't even think upper management is the problem, I don't think they care what wheel we use, but engineering leads want shiny new things.

• Analysis of Total Harmonic Distortion on the U.S. Electric Grid

  While most of the country is seen to be well within IEEE 519 limits (blue dots), there are multiple areas generally found in more densely populated areas where THD exceeds IEEE 519 limits (yellow, red and purple dots). Looking at these hotspots in more detail, it turns out these are not covering large regions but are found to be more localized to specific feeders or substations.

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Silicon Valley stifled the AI doom movement in 2024

• Jeff Koons on why he has drawn a red line on AI in art: I don't want to be lazy

• Meta Wants More AI Bots on Facebook and Instagram

• Alibaba's cloud unit announces big price cuts on large-language models

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Space debris weighing over 1k pounds reportedly crashes into village in Kenya

Crypto con games

• Crypto industry dreams of a golden era under Trump

• 'Disturbing surge in cryptocurrency fraud' led by young, tech-savvy Nigerian men

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Uber Eats undercover: Delivering your food for $1.74 an hour

• Carvana: A Father-Son Accounting Grift for the Ages

• Four missing bolts ruined Boeing's 2024 flight plan

• A 'Made in China' Crisis Awaits Big Auto

• Aluminum frames lead solar panel costs

• Constellation Energy Signs $1B Power Deal with US Government

• Mining start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos valued at $2.96bn

  A mining and artificial intelligence start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos has raised $537mn in its latest funding round, as it seeks to become a key player in the race for the critical minerals needed for the energy transition. Berkeley-based KoBold Metals said its series C funding round valued the company at $2.96bn, and was co-led by existing investor T Rowe Price, which has been joined by Durable Capital Partners.

• Why I'm skeptical of minimum prices for ride sharing

  The Attorney General of Massachusetts recently announced that drivers for ride-sharing companies must be paid at least $32.50 per hour. This kind of policy could help drivers. But if you analyze things carefully, it can’t help them very much. In the end, this policy is mostly equivalent to forcing riders to pay extra to subsidize drivers sitting around doing nothing.

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Judge blocks parts of California bid to protect kids from social media

• The Truth About H-1B Visas It's wage theft, pure and simple

• U.S. Companies Vouched for China During Trump's First Term. Not Anymore

• U.S. Appeals Court Strikes Down FCC's Net Neutrality Rules

  • Federal Court Strikes a Final Blow to FCC's Net-Neutrality Rules

  • US appeals court blocks Biden administration effort to restore net-neutrality

  • Net Neutrality Struck Down, for good this time

Trump

• Trump told SCOTUS he plans to make a deal to save TikTok

• Musk, Ramaswamy Can Target Inefficiency by Closing the Tax Gap

Democrats / Biden Inc

• Most red tape ever and more in pipeline.

  With Tuesday’s release of the Federal Register, a daily listing of new and changing rules and regulations for Main Street and Wall Street to follow, Biden’s total count for the year hit 107,262 pages and 3,248 final rules and regulations. For perspective, former President Barack Obama, who relied on new regulations and executive orders to push his liberal agenda around a stubborn Congress, held the record until Tuesday with 95,894 pages.

Left Angst

• Trump's tariff threats could bump PC prices by almost half

• "Did the sun rise from the west today?" - Internet in disbelief as Ann Coulter triggers widespread assent over H-1B worker comment

  Ann Coulter and Laura Loomer have been posting a series of tweets targeting imported H-1B workers and American Indians. Ann Coulter in a tweet criticized the tech industry for preferring to hire 'indentured servants' rather than genuinely skilled workers, implying that the H-1B visa system is exploited for cheaper labor rather than bringing in high-skilled talent. She said:

  "American workers can leave a company. Imported H1B workers can't. Tech wants indentured servants, not "high-skilled" workers."

  Now, people have posted a string of reactions to this comment, while the majority of users find themselves surprised at siding with Ann Coulter, some are against her views.

• Elon Told Americans They're Too Stupid and Lazy to Hire

• Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy call remote work a 'Covid-era privilege.'

• Elon Musk and the right's war on Wikipedia

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Los Angeles Sheriff dispatch system crashes on New Year's Eve

  • Los Angeles Sheriff's department dispatch system goes down

  • LA County Sheriff's computer dispatch system remains down since New Year's Eve

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Treasury's sanctions office hacked by Chinese government, officials say

• The Dogs of (Urban) War: Lessons from the IDFs' Specialized Canine Unit

• US considers potential rules to restrict or bar Chinese drones

World

• German solar sector in distress as consumer boom fizzles

• Police raid Muan airport over deadly Jeju Air plane crash

• Argentina's world-beating currency rally puts pressure on Javier Milei

• Korean Assembly Speaker's adherence to procedure key to making troops stand down

  Even as South Korean special forces soldiers advanced on the assembly building, Woo insisted on following the correct legislative procedures despite mounting pressure from anxious politicians urging him to speed up the process by possibly cutting a few corners. “In moments like this, following the correct procedure without error is even more vital,” Woo told his worried colleagues in the surrounding assembly chamber. At one point, troops came dangerously close to entering the main chamber where lawmakers were voting, prompting a tense standoff with assembly staff. The crucial vote proceeded, with all of the 190 lawmakers present – of the 300-seat Assembly – voting in favour of repealing martial law.

• South Korea's right-wing YouTube world openly embraced by Yoon

• Scandinavians came to Britain long before Vikings and Anglo-Saxons, finds study

• Coventry woman who vanished 52 years ago found alive and well

• German Power Slips Below Zero as Negative-Price Phenomenon Grows

Israel

• Palestinian Authority Suspends Al Jazeera Operations in the West Bank

  On Wednesday, the PA temporarily suspended the work of Al Jazeera in the occupied West Bank over “inciting material”, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported. A ministerial committee that included the culture, interior and communications ministries decided to suspend the broadcaster’s operations for what they described as broadcasting “inciting material and reports that were deceiving and stirring strife” in the country. The decision came after Fatah, the Palestinian faction which dominates the PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from the governorate of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, citing its coverage of clashes between the Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed groups in the area.

  • Palestinian Authority Suspends Al Jazeera TV in West Bank, Citing Incitement

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Suicide Drones Transformed the Front Lines in Ukraine

China

• The Players on the Eve of Destruction

  On New Year’s Eve in Taipei, it’s hard for me not to think about the future that might be coming. It’s hard not to see the streets filled with merrymakers strewn with bodies instead, the shopping malls lying shattered in chunks of rubble, the young people searching in vain for their parents. It’s hard not to look at the towering spectacle of Taipei 101 and imagine it toppled and broken. It’s hard for me. But it doesn’t seem to be hard for most of the Taiwanese people, who go cheerfully about their partying and their jobs and the quotidian routines of daily life with as little apparent terror as my rabbit munching hay. Even as the titanic battle-fleets of a menacing empire surround their home, even as the empire’s state media bellow threats of war, Taiwanese people stroll through night markets and sip Ruby #18 tea and line up for the latest cat cafe. There is an easy, laid-back tranquility to this culture like nothing I’ve ever seen, not even in Amsterdam or a California beach town.

• Prosecutors in Taiwan Indict 2024 Presidential Candidate Ko Wen Je

• China’s Economy Is Burdened by Years of Excess. Here’s How Bad It Really Is.

• China's electric car boom is increasingly more about hybrids

• (Dec 2024) An Automotive Frankenstein Is Born - by Michael Dunne

  First thing I noticed was that the plant was huge. There was enough capacity, I learned later, to build 150,000 cars a year. Long rows of world-class Kuka robots, imported from Germany, stood idle and silent. Like shiny, disciplined soldiers. Over in one corner, a few engineers fussed with a prototype that faintly resembled a Citroen Picasso. Most of all, I noticed the quiet. There were no more than 10 workers in the plant. This operation was still very far away from production.

  “Impressive.” I answered. “Very impressive.” Then I ventured my own question: “How many cars do you plan to sell next year.”

  Zhang turned his head a bit and gave a wry smile, like he was dealing with a junior staffer who did not get the memo. Instead of answering, he delivered another question: “What EV technologies can you get us from America?”

  “EV technologies from America?” I repeated with what must have been a very puzzled look on my face. Zhang, who had been hired in from Zhejiang, that southern cradle place of China’s boldest entrepreneurs, then turned to one of his lieutenants. “Explain things to our guest.”

  His R&D chief stepped forward. “You see, sales don’t matter right now. What matters is that we tell the municipal government, the Mayor, that we are sourcing advanced technology from America. Then he will instruct the state bank here to give us another big loan.”

  “What kind of advanced technology?”

  “Oh, the kind really doesn't matter. Anything. What matters is getting the money from the bank. That’s how we got the first $1 billion to build this plant and buy the Kukas.”

  The first billion?

Health / Medicine

• Phone Is Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat

  • Obviously we need a new profession: Telephone sanitizers!

• GLP-1 Medication Adoption Is Changing Consumer Food Purchases

• Exercise may be the 'most potent medical intervention ever known'

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

• Researchers reveal why the lung is a frequent site of cancer metastasis

• Cancer vaccines are showing promise at last

• More children are getting kidney stones. Experts think it's their diet

  • how many kids will not drink plain water under any circumstances?

• Herpes Virus Might Drive Alzheimer's Pathology, Study Suggests

• Weight loss drugs seem to be driving down grocery bills

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• Teen with avian flu no longer infectious: letter to NEJM

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Toxic waste from Bhopal gas leak factory removed after 40 years

• Tasmania's south-east coast 'glows' with bioluminescent algae

• Will Yellowstone National Park erupt? Scientists have new answers

• We know what caused Florida fish to spin in circles until they died

• Oldest animal found could reveal whether crucial ocean current will collapse

• 'Forever chemical' found in mineral water from several European countries

• Green Electricity Costs a Bundle

• Baby red handfish 'thriving' in captive-breeding program in Tasmania

• UK must ban full hybrid cars by 2030 or face net 0 catastrophe, says EV UK

• North Atlantic right whales should live past 100. They're dying around 22

• The Growing Human Footprint on Earth, as Seen from Space

• In the Arctic, planting more trees makes the world warmer

• Morgan Stanley Follows Citi, BofA in Quitting Climate Group

• Grieving killer whale who carried calf's body spotted again with dead baby