2025-01-31

DC midair collision, Matrix retcon, Tesla sales down, GPUs sold out, video game ephemera, ads on public broadcasting, Tulsi speaks sparky, blame Musk, rationalist death cult, wrong Germans voting

etc

• Data Shows Major Electrical Disruption Ahead of Eaton Fire

DC Crash

• Many Feared Dead After Plane Carrying 64 Collides with Helicopter Near D.C

• Crash: PSA CRJ7 at Washington, midair collision with helicopter on final

  on behalf of American Airlines, registration N709PS performing flight AA-5342 from Wichita,KS to Washington National,DC (USA) with 60 passengers and 4 crew, had been on approach to National's runway 01 and was asked by tower whether they could land runway 33, which the crew affirmed, the aircraft was subsequently cleared to land on runway 33. The aircraft was on final approach to National's runway 33 descending through about 200 feet AGL about 0.6nm before the runway threshold when the aircraft collided with a military Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter call sign PAT25, both aircraft fell into the Potomac River at 20:46L (01:46Z 30.1.). "Tower, did you see that?" somebody radioed at 01:46:39Z. All subsequent approaches were instructed to go around, departures were halted. About 4 hours later no survivors have been recovered.

  A massive rescue operation commenced, with multiple helicopters over the crash site and boats were on scene for search and rescue. Emergency Services stated that due to the current temperatures people would have only about 15-30 minutes until hypothermia sets in and about 30-90 minutes survival time. Emergency Services reported they received an alert from the FAA tower about the crash at 20:48L (01:48Z 30.1.), a state and federal response was initiated involving about 300 personnel. On Jan 30th 2025 at about 00:30L (05:30Z) local police reported, that fatalities are confirmed, so far no survivors have been rescued. Eyewitnesses reported there were suddenly sparks and the aircraft rolled beyond 90 degrees and belly up, possibly about 120 feet above water, and plunged into the water. They could not see a helicopter.

• Video of accident

• American Airlines jet, Army helicopter collide, crash into Washington DC

• Passenger jet with 64 aboard collides with Army helicopter

• DC plane crash: Black Hawk collides with AA jet

• American Airlines Plane Crashes Near Washington, DC, Carrying 64 Passengers

• American Airlines Plane Crashes Near Washington, DC, Carrying 64 Passengers

• Plane Crashes Near Washington DC after midair collision with helicopter

• CRJ 700, Helicopter Midair in Washington

• American Airlines CRJ-700 crashes into police helicopter near Reagan Airport

• 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision

• American Airlines plane, helicopter collide midair near D.C.-area airport

• FAA issues ground stop after passenger plane collides midair with helicopter

• Wichita flight collides with D.C. helicopter, crashes into river.

• The helicopter was not broadcasting ADS-B data

• Staffing Was 'Not Normal' at Reagan Airport Tower, According to FAA Report

Horseshit

• Majority of US teens have lost trust in Big Tech

• California drivers could have vehicles not safe for the road

• Digital Reality Digital Shock - Christopher Butler

  The timing was uncanny. The Matrix arrived amid a perfect storm of millennial anxiety: Y2K fears about computers failing catastrophically, a disputed presidential election that would be decided by the Supreme Court, and then the shocking events of 9/11. For those of us just entering adulthood in the United States, these concurrent disruptions to technological, political, and social stability congealed into a generational dysphoria. The film’s paranoid questioning of reality felt less like science fiction and more like a documentary of our collective psychological state.

• What's Up with the Scary Tags on Children's Jammies?

• Why Los Angeles Has Bus Stops in the Middle of the Freeway

• High and Dry: Sobriety and Transcendence at Bonnaroo

• Now in College, Luddite Teens Still Don't Want Your Likes

celebrity gossip

• Bill Gates Isn't Like Those Other Tech Billionaires

• The Private Army That Protects L.A.'S Rich and Famous

Bluesky

• Democratic Politicians Are Flocking to Bluesky

Musk

• Why Jeff Booth left his 377k Twitter following

• Russian Oligarch Held Stake in Musk's SpaceX Through Citi Trust While Sanctioned

• Musk Blames Don Lemon's 'Invasive' Interview for Canceling Show on X

• Amazon Raises Its Ad Spending on Elon Musk's X, in Major Reversal

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Elon Musk claims Tesla will launch a self-driving service in Austin in June

• Tesla sales in Germany dropped 41% in 2024

  • Electric cars will save the earth, but only if they're not associated with the wrong people. Shows the priorities people have, not just the buyers of the cars, but the whole activist empire that promoted Musk and Tesla to this point.

• Tesla fourth-quarter results: Revenue drops 8%

  • Tesla's profits slide over 70 percent in the fourth quarter

• Elon Musk admits that Tesla will have to replace its HW3 self-driving computers

• Elon Musk reveals Elon Musk was wrong about Full Self-Driving

• Volkswagen Cancels the ID.7. It Won’t Be Coming to America After All.

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Christians in tech drive religious revival in SF

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Northeastern purges DEI websites and messaging amid Trump executive order

• Fake papers contaminate world scientific literature, fueling a corrupt industry

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• YouTube says it's not serving hourslong unskippable ads

• GeForce RTX 50 Series Availability

  • GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080 sell out almost instantly

• Microsoft's Cloud Sales Disappoint

• With Wine 10 update, run your Windows app on Linux better than EV

• US copyright: AI-assisted works can get copyright with enough human creativity

• Democrat teams up with movie industry to propose website-blocking law

• Lawsuit accuses Amazon of tracking consumers through cellphones

• Facebook admits that the Linux topic crackdown was 'in error' and has been fixed

• Meta warns that it will fire leakers in leaked memo

• Mark Zuckerberg to employees in leaked all-hands meeting: 'buckle up'

• Kernel WiFi driver maintainer steps down without a replacement

• Bezos vs. Bezos: Amazon sues WA state over Washington Post request for Kuiper records

  It’s not an unusual move by the company, and in some ways it’s a legal technicality. Amazon says it’s not seeking to block the records release entirely, but rather seeking to protect from public disclosure certain records that contain proprietary information and trade secrets about the company’s satellite internet operations.

• VGHF opens free online access to 1,500 classic game mags, 30K historic files

  • The Video Game History Foundation Library

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• PCBs, copper pours, ground planes, and you

  • HN comments

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• AI crosses 'red line' after learning to replicate itself

• Deep Impact

  the markets are panicking, because the entire narrative of the AI bubble has been that these models have to be expensive because they're the future, and that's why hyperscalers had to burn $200 billion in capital expenditures for infrastructure to support generative AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. The idea that there was another way to do this — that, in fact, we didn't need to spend all that money, had any of the hyperscalers considered a different approach beyond "throw as much money at the problem as possible" — simply wasn’t considered.

• DeepSeek raises the security concern of the US

• Apple researchers reveal the secret sauce behind DeepSeek AI

• The Knives Are Coming Out for DeepSeek AI

• The Meaning of the DeepSeek Drama

• The AI Fad Just Burned to the Waterline

  The "smart money" has noted the AI fad has burned to the waterline, and has been frantically assuring "dumb money" that the stock market bubble is still intact and poised to bubble higher, so there's no reason to sell, and every reason to "buy the dip" so the "smart money" can sell, sell, sell near the top and let the "dumb money" absorb the coming 80% decline as a fad that was poorly conceived from the start has burned to the waterline, and the tiniest wave will send it to the bottom.

• OpenAI partners with U.S. National Laboratories on nuclear weapons security

• DeepSeek stirs intrigue and doubt across the tech world

• Guess who left a database wide open, exposing chat logs, API keys, and more?

  "This database contained a significant volume of chat history, backend data and sensitive information, including log streams, API Secrets, and operational details." To make matters worse, Wiz said, the exposure allowed for full control of the database and potential privilege escalation within the DeepSeek environment, without any authentication or barrier to external access.

• US Probing Whether DeepSeek Got Nvidia Chips Through Singapore

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• NASA's Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals Mix of Life's Ingredients

Crypto con games

• Tesla reports $600M Bitcoin gain in Q4 using new accounting rule

• HF Elliott warns White House is inflating crypto bubble that 'could wreak havoc'

• Sam Bankman-Fried's Parents Explore Seeking Trump Pardon for Son

  • Better idea: let's prosecute the rest of the charges the DOJ had lined up.

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Lockheed Loses $1.9B on Secret Programs

• 23andMe might sell itself as it runs out of money

• Best indicator yet that they done: SoftBank in talks to invest up to $25B in OpenAI

  • SoftBank in talks to invest as much as $25B in OpenAI

• Soccer Has Become a Hotbed of Financial Engineering

• Microsoft reports Q2 revenue up 12% YoY to $69.6B

  • Microsoft stock slumps more than 6% on disappointing revenue outlook

• Justice Department Sues to Block HPE's $14B Acquisition of Juniper Networks

  • Justice Department Sues to Block $14B Juniper Buyout by HP

• Blackstone holds firm on data center investments despite DeepSeek turmoil

• Healthy food costs twice as much as junk food, study says

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Hegseth strips Milley of his security detail, orders investigation

• Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Escorted from Her Office

• F.C.C. Chair Orders Investigation Into NPR and PBS Stations - The New York Times

  “I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” Mr. Carr said in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”

Trump

• Meta will pay $25M to settle a lawsuit with Trump over his 2021 suspensions

  • Why Meta Is Paying $25 Million to Settle a Trump Lawsuit

  • Meta to pay $25M to settle Trump lawsuit over ban

• Trump cribs Musk's "fork in the road" Twitter memo to slash gov't workforce

• Trump rolls back deportation protections for thousands of Venezuelans. Here’s what that means.

• Stop the Nonsense and Confirm Tulsi Gabbard | RealClearWire

• Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity

  • Trump to prepare facility at Guantanamo for 30k migrants

• 'I Am NO ONE'S Puppet': Tulsi Gabbard Takes the Deep State APART In SPECTACULAR Opening Statement

  • Watch: Tulsi Gabbard In The Hot Seat For Senate Confirmation Hearing | ZeroHedge

Democrats / Biden Inc

• How Musk Helped Keep Kamala Harris Off Joe Rogan's Podcast

  An excerpt from the book, which is set to publish on April 1, reveals that Harris’ team went to great lengths to pull off a Rogan interview without making it appear as if the former VP was desperate. Rogan’s team was reportedly adamant he would not interview Harris anywhere but in his studio. The podcaster, who boasts close to 15 million subscribers on Spotify alone, had only traveled for an interview once before—in 2019, to speak with Edward Snowden, the infamous whistleblower who was wanted in the U.S. at the time.

  With an interview outside Texas off the table, the book claims Harris’ team concocted an elaborate excuse for why she would travel to a state she had no chance of winning in her campaign’s final weeks. Her team landed on hosting a rally in Houston on October 25 that would put a magnifying glass on abortion in a state that was—and still is—so restrictive against it. At least, that’s what they would say publicly. The rally’s real purpose, the book claims, was to put Harris in proximity to Rogan’s studio—approximately 165 miles west of the city—while providing justification to her donors for why she made a trip to Texas when she was needed in swing states.

Left Angst

• The long-planned return of two astronauts from space is now a political issue

• 'Headed for technofascism': the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley

• Mass Deportations Mean No More Migrants To Harvest ‘Blueberries’ for Women’s ‘Smoothies,’ Dem Strategist Says

• Ted Cruz Blocks FCC Plan to Bring Mobile Wi-Fi to School Kids

• The FAA will be forced to oversee the investigation of a fatal plane crash without a chief administrator. | The Verge

  Michael Whitaker stepped down as FAA administrator on January 20th, the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration, after clashing with Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX is regulated by the agency. Musk publicly called on Whitaker to resign after the FAA fined SpaceX for failing to get approval for launch changes. And now the power vacuum at the agency is coming into sharp focus after an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet Wednesday evening in Washington, DC, killing everyone on board. At a press conference Thursday with rescue officials, newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ignored reporters’ questions about whether the FAA had an acting director in place to help manage the crisis.

• Meta Pays Trump $25M Protection Money After Mar-a-Lago 'Offer'

  • Meta to pay $25M to settle Trump lawsuit over ban after January 6, 2021

• Analysis: America's gulag': Trump's Guantánamo ploy tars migrants as terrorists

• Bill criminalizing votes for sanctuary policies constitutionally suspect

• Mark Zuckerberg Defends Embrace of Trump Administration in Meta Employee Meeting

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Law enforcement operation "underway" to seize cybercrime forums, Europol says

• String of recent killings linked to Bay Area 'death cult'

  A string of recent killings across the United States have been tied to a fringe online group described as a “death cult.” The complex web of violence includes a samurai sword attack in Vallejo, the stabbing of a landlord and a deadly shootout near the Canadian border. In 2022, Vallejo landlord Curtis Lind was allegedly attacked by a group of young tenants who lived in box trucks on his property. One of the alleged assailants reportedly stabbed Lind through the chest with a samurai sword. During the attack, Lind shot two of the alleged assailants, leaving Emma Borhanian, 31, dead. Lind survived the attack but lost an eye. On Jan. 17, Lind, now 82, was stabbed to death on the same property, weeks before he could testify in the case. Oxford-educated data scientist Maximilian Snyder, 22, was charged on Tuesday with Lind’s murder.

  Three thousand miles away, in Burlington, Vermont, a 21-year-old data scientist named Teresa Youngblut has been charged in connection with the killing of a Border Patrol agent in a shootout following a traffic stop 12 miles from the Canadian border. On Jan. 20, multiple Border Patrol agents pulled over a blue Toyota Prius belonging to German citizen Felix Baukholt, who was a passenger in the car driven by Youngblut, a criminal complaint seen by SFGATE alleges.

  Many of the people linked to the violence are connected to a fringe online community known as the “Zizians,” the investigation found. The group is a radical offshoot of the Rationalism movement, focusing on matters such as veganism and artificial intelligence destroying humanity. The group is apparently named after a person known as “Ziz,” whom Open Vallejo identified as a former tenant on Lind’s Vallejo property. A 2023 post on Rationalism forum LessWrong.com warned of coming violence in the Zizian community. “Over the past few years, Ziz has repeatedly called for the deaths of many different classes of people,” the anonymous post read. Jessica Taylor, a friend of Baukholt’s, told Open Vallejo she warned Baukholt about the Zizians, describing the group on X as a “death cult.”

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Soldiers use nicotine pouches close to 10 times more than civilians, study finds

• Pentagon took days to remove DeepSeek from staff work computers

World

• Man convicted for drunk-driving a drone in the first case of its kind in Sweden

• Salwan Momika: Man who burned Quran killed in Sweden

  • Man who burned Quran 'shot dead in Sweden'

• Norway's sovereign wealth fund posted a full-year profit of $222.4B

• How many people live in Britain? We do not know

• Coca-Cola recalls drinks in UK due to chemical levels

  • UK: Coca-Cola recalls select cans over high chlorate levels

• Shortwave transmitter Moosbrunn blasted - noe.ORF.at

  The only shortwave transmitter in Austria was blown up on Tuesday. Since the end of the 1950s, he has broadcasted a radio program that was receivable all over the world due to shortwave transmission. The transmission operation was discontinued at the end of 2024.

• (2022) Christian Democracy is to blame for Europe's democratic backsliding

• Did the Iron Age Begin in Tamil Nadu?

• Labour Cuts £17 Million From Maths Support Programme on Same Day as Handing £17 Million to UNRWA.

• Germany: Angela Merkel chides own party over far-right help

• Far-right vote on asylum rocks German parliament

  Germany's parliament descended into heckles and recriminations on Wednesday after a "firewall" against working with the far-right cracked. A non-binding motion calling for tougher border and asylum rules passed with support from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). During the stormy session, politicians of various parties hurled criticism and blame at each other. Referring to the AfD's support for the motion, the CDU leader told the Bundestag that a policy wasn't wrong just because the "wrong people back it".

• Jolani Declares Himself President Of Syria After Canceling Elections & Constitution | ZeroHedge

Israel

• The difficult question about Auschwitz that remains unanswered

  When Israeli agents captured Adolf Eichmann, a key figure in the extermination campaign, they put him on trial in Jerusalem, and televised it. Now, Holocaust memorialisation began to reach the wider public. Through the Eichmann trial, the new mass medium of television brought survivors' testimony into the living rooms of the western world.

China

• China funnelled $57B to control critical mineral supply chain

Health / Medicine

• Investigating the case of human nose shape and climate adaptation

• Scientific Incentives Stalled the Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance

• Younger cannabis users have reduced brain function, finds largest study yet

  • We can't even do studies for noncontroversial things like Alzheimer's; what trust can we put in studies of subjects with political strife involved? "Highest bidder science"

• "May contain milk" Chocolate recall upgraded to highest risk level: Consumption ‘could cause death’.

• “Today, over 100 members of Congress support a bill to fund Ozempic with Medicare at $1,500 a month. Most of these members have taken money from the manufacturer of that product, a European company called Novo Nordisk.”

• FDA Deregulation of E-Cigarettes Saved Lives and Spurred Innovation

• Heard this one before? FDA Approves drug to treat pain without opioid effects

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• Kansas faces one of the largest tuberculosis outbreaks in US history

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Ancient Amazonians became master maize farmers

  • A sophisticated civilisation once flourished in the Amazon basin

  Remnants of some of their earth-built structures can still be seen. One area in particular, the 4,500km2 Monumental Mound Region, is home to hundreds of mounds, some more than 20 metres tall and spanning 20 hectares, linked by causeways that run for kilometres. These were constructed by people known to modern scholarship as the Casarabe culture, who flourished for roughly 1,000 years. The extent of the Casarabe’s earthworks suggests there were a lot of them. That raises the question of how they fed themselves.

• The Most Active Volcano in the Northeast Pacific Is Preparing to Erupt

• 'Forever chemicals' in wastewater far more widespread than previously known

• Our Roads Aren't Built for Wilder Weather Driven by Climate Change