2025-04-04

etc

• Kite Confiscated After Coming in Contact with a Jet Near Washington

Horseshit

• LinkedIn's cofounder Reid Hoffman says seeking work-life balance is a red flag

• Roman dodecahedron replica removed from eBay after complaint

  A replica of a Roman dodecahedron has been removed from an internet auction site after the man who discovered the original claimed it was "misleading". Richard Parker, from the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group which found the artefact near Lincoln in 2023, complained to eBay after he was "shocked" to spot a copy of the object for sale on their site using his images.

• Alcohol makes male fruit flies more attractive

  • Male fruit flies drink more alcohol to get females to like them

• cuz "statistics" is the art of using numbers to makes lies more plausible: Why do wealthy Americans only live as long as poor people in Western Europe?

• Moral Crumple Zones: Cautionary Tales in Human-Robot Interaction

• Hospital uses ‘absurd’ medical malpractice defense in deadly ER crash lawsuit

  St. David’s North Austin Medical Center is using an “absurd” legal defense to try to blunt a $1 million lawsuit filed by a family of four who were injured when a car drove into the ER lobby, according to an attorney with more than 40 years of experience who reviewed the public case records. Next month marks one year since the Bernard family filed the lawsuit, accusing St. David’s HealthCare of gross negligence for not having safety bollards at the time. Experts say that security feature could have stopped the crash that killed the driver, who had a blood-alcohol level between three and four times the legal limit to drive at the time, toxicology results showed.

  In court filings, the hospital system makes no mention of why it had no safety bollards outside its ER. However, it does argue that because Nadia was a patient that day getting a CT scan, her injuries should be treated as “health care liability claims” — despite being in the lobby at the time, not an exam room, and having already been seen by doctors.

  • How about going after the driver of the car, not other victims of the accident? Sure the hospital has more money: but this is crab bucket bullshit.

celebrity gossip

• So you think you know Roger Penrose? Be prepared to be shocked – Physics World

  The Penrose of The Impossible Man isn’t so much humble as oblivious and, in my reading, quite spoiled. As a teenager he was especially good at taking care of his sister and her friends, generous with his time and thoughtfulness. But it ends there.

• Bruce Springsteen to release seven 'lost' albums in June

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• BBC boss warns of Russian and Chinese propaganda

• Newsom’s California Has Sent Nearly $18 Million in Taxpayer Funds to Soros-Backed Tides Center: The Tides Center has a long history of funneling funding to radical anti-police and anti-Israel groups.

• It’s Always the Other Side That’s Been Brainwashed | The New Yorker

  Rebecca Lemov, a historian of science at Harvard, takes a different approach. She is often asked, she says, whether brainwashing really exists. “The answer is yes,” she writes, without any it-depends-what-you-mean-by hedging. In fact, she continues, “what we call brainwashing is not rare but common.” et the term’s recent resurgence raises suspicions. Accusations of brainwashing aren’t neutral claims; they offer a particular explanation for why someone holds beliefs we find preposterous. That explanation attributes those beliefs to deliberate manipulation instead of rational argument or personal conviction. In doing so, it may recast those with “deplorable” beliefs as victims rather than agents, deserving of not just condemnation but sympathy—and, perhaps, treatment. In the seventies heyday of the cults, that treatment was called “deprogramming.” Is this what our addled cousins need? A systematic re-indoctrination into conventionality?

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Fatal Crash in China Puts Assisted Driving Tech Under Scrutiny

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Quaker Parents Were Ahead of Their Time

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Fired Prof Accused of Research Misconduct, FBI Involvement Unclear

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Paywall removal sites mysteriously redirect to Kremlin-controlled media outlet

• What is "MicroSD Express," and why is it mandatory for the Nintendo Switch 2?

  • Nintendo Switch 2 to launch in June with 4K visuals and surprise game lineup

  • Nintendo Switch 2: DRM, expensive, and GameCube

  some publishers would provide the bare-minimum software in a Switch 1 cartridge and then rely on the Nintendo Switch Game Update service to install the full contents of the game. This new game cartridge type is effectively making this approach to distribution blessed by Nintendo. In a way this is better because the game will be labeled correctly that the contents of the game require an internet connection to run completely, but I suspect it will also mean that this technique will be more common amongst publishers. All-in-all, this means that when Nintendo shuts down Nintendo Switch online in ~20 years and your Switch console or microSD card are damaged you will lose access to your collection. There is no legal way to produce a backup of your games that incorporate encryption like the Switch cartridges thanks to the DMCA.

• Spotify debuts Gen AI ads, programmatic ad buying

• Celebrating 50 years of Microsoft – Bill Gates

  • Bill Gates Celebrates Microsoft's 50th by Releasing Altair Basic Source Code

• New Windows 11 trick lets you bypass Microsoft Account requirement

• Windows debloat script made by Microsoft

• The Tumblr revival is real–and Gen Z is leading the charge

• AI bots strain Wikimedia as bandwidth surges 50%

  • How crawlers impact the operations of the Wikimedia projects

• More Purple Links, Please - Susam's Quick Notes

  When links look indistinguishable or unconventional, it can be hard to tell what I've already read, especially when I am revisiting a topic and want to easily spot the links that are new. In the end, sticking with the default purple for visited links isn't just about tradition; it is about simplicity and clarity. They are small reminders of all the digital paths I've already walked. I wish more websites would keep them that way. More purple links, please.

• T-Mobile Shows Users the Names, Pictures, and Exact Locations of Random Children

• TikTok bidders pile up as deadline looms with Amazon, OnlyFans founder in mix

• Meta's Upcoming $1k Smart Glasses with a Screen

• Nvidia Adds Native Python Support to CUDA

• Oracle Tells Clients of Second Recent Hack, Log-In Data Stolen

  • Oracle privately confirms Cloud breach to customers

• L.A. Soundstage Occupancy Drops to New Low of 63% with No Signs of Improvement

• Why is someone mass-scanning Juniper and Palo Alto Networks products?

• Lewd live streamer is protected by First Amendment, local police say

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Why I Maintain a 17 Year Old Thinkpad

  Right now I’m using both my Macbook and my Thinkpad a lot. I continue to use my MacBook because I like using proprietary software like Camtasia or Alfred, I like being able to use local LLM’s, and I enjoy the modern screen and ports that my MacBooks has. But if I had to guess which machine I will still be using in another 17 years I’d point to my ThinkPad with its battery latch and standard screws; I see no reason why it will not be able to manage email management, website development, and internet browsing indefinitely.

  • HN comments

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Google shakes up Gemini leadership, Google Labs head taking the reins

• Univ of Hong Kong releases Dream 7B (Diffusion reasoning model)

• Putin's AI blunder is a gift to opponents

• Researchers lift the lid on how reasoning models "think"

• AI-Generated Job Seekers: A New Problem for Remote Hiring

• Training AI Using 'Pirated' Content Can Be Fair Use, Law Professors Argue

• H&M clothing ads to use AI replicas of real fashion models

• An image of an archeologist adventurer who wears a hat and uses a bullwhip

  Does the growth of AI have to bring with it the tacit or even explicit encouragement of intellectual theft?

  • Is it time for us to re-examine our assumptions about "intellectual property" and the viability of paying rent to others for thoughts in our heads?

• Taco Bell parent Yum Brands partners with Nvidia to speed up use of AI

• Apple and Amazon Promised Us Revolutionary AI. We're Still Waiting

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Rivals are rising to challenge the dominance of SpaceX

• Space Debris: Is It a Crisis?

• Project Kuiper readies long-awaited operational satellite launch.

• SpaceX just took a big step toward reusing Starship's Super Heavy booster

Crypto con games

• How North Korea Cheated Its Way to Crypto Billions

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Egg prices soar as outdated supply chains crack under pressure

• Dow drops 1,500 points, S&P 500 loses 4% as stock market rout on tariffs worsens

  • Apple Stock Falls as Trump Tariffs Target Supply Chain

  • US markets' worst day since Covid pandemic: Apple and Nvidia lose combined $470B

• Coca-Cola Misled America About the Science of Sodas: New Book

• Microsoft pulls back on datacenter ambitions

• Former Rippling employee admits spying for Deel

  • Accused Tech Spy Says Deel's CEO Recruited Him with Offer to Be Like James Bond

• GDPNow first quarter of 2025: -3.7%

  • what happened Feb 28th? From +4% to -4% in one day. Cuts to government spending got counted then?

• A broken system is keeping California homes underinsured. Millions are at risk

• (PDF) NY Stock Exchange Market-Wide Circuit Breakers FAQ

• Stellantis temporarily halts production in Canada, Mexico as auto tariffs start

• Intel, TSMC tentatively agree to form chipmaking joint venture

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Sen. John Kennedy Destroys Nationwide Injunctions – PJ Media

  Kennedy then laid out the fundamental issue: "You have a plaintiff and a defendant, and the plaintiff files a lawsuit in federal court. The judge has jurisdiction over those parties. How can a federal judge issue an order that affects everyone else outside of that courtroom?"

  "Uh, it shouldn't be possible, Senator, but district courts do it all the time," Shumate admitted. "I think on the theory that courts need to enjoin a federal policy from going into effect, and they often will enjoin it nationwide so that all non-parties are protected."

Trump

• Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices

• Not just Signal: Michael Waltz reportedly used Gmail for government messages

  • National security adviser Michael Waltz reportedly conducted business via Gmail

• Musk will stay on as an adviser post-DOGE, Vance says

• 'Disloyal' NSC Staffers Fired After Laura Loomer Brings Receipts To The White House | ZeroHedge

Left Angst

• The newspipple obviously have not understood the word "reciprocal" and wish to ensure no one else does either.

• Australian beef singled out in latest USA tariffs

• Tariffs to lift companies' costs and hurt exports

• System builders say server prices set to spike as Trump plays customs cowboy

• Countries Targeted by Trump's Tariffs May Strike Back at U.S. Services

• US Emerges as Biggest Loser in Markets from Tariffs

• This is The Formula Trump's Team Used to Calculate Tariffs

  President Donald Trump’s administration calculated its raft of new tariffs primarily based on existing trade balances — a departure from pledges to match the tariff rates and other trade barriers from other countries. In a statement published Wednesday night to explain its methodology for tariffs that rocked the globe, the United States Trade Representative detailed a formula that divides a country’s trade surplus with the US by its total exports, based on data from the US Census Bureau for 2024. And then that number was divided by two, producing the “discounted” rate.

  • Reciprocal tariffs: you won't believe how they came up with the numbers

  • Reciprocal Tariff Calculations

• Who is selling things to the US from those islands, then? 'Nowhere on Earth is safe': Trump imposes tariffs on uninhabited islands

• The Day After Trump's "Liberation Day" in SE Asia

• Taiwan chip industry can have 'brief reprieve' after Trump tariff exemption

• I just saw the future. It was not in America

• Trump announce 10% tariff on all imports, higher rates for some trading partners

• President Trump's mindless tariffs will cause economic havoc

• What will the Switch 2 cost after the Trump tariffs?

• Tim Cook kissed Trump's ring, but tariffs wipe out nearly $300B in value

• Trump Declares Trade War on Uninhabited Islands, US Military, and Economic Logic

• US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

• Trump's new tariff math looks a lot like ChatGPT's

  • Critics suspect Trump's weird tariff math came from chatbots

  • Did an LLM help write Trump's trade plan? Probably yes

• Higher tariffs may be bad for trade, but good for the environment

• Trump Tariffs Send Stocks, Dollar Tumbling

• France Eyes US Big Tech in EU Retaliation to Trump's Tariffs

• US tariff protection decimated American shipbuilding; could do same to cleanTech

• Sweeping tariffs threaten 'Factory Asia'

• America’s astonishing act of self-harm

  Trump’s justification hinges on a naive belief that treats trade imbalances as if they were the profit and loss account of a business, and not the culmination of highly specialised supply chains. He also considers factory work to be the fount of economic development, ignoring how decades of free trade has enabled America to rise up the industrial value chain and become a global leader in services and innovation.

• Donald Trump takes his trade war to the tiniest nations

• Trump Tariffs "a seismic shift" for nascent US tabletop industry

• Tech companies are telling immigrant employees on visas not to leave the U.S.

• US Cancels Visa of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Oscar Arias

• Zuckerberg Lobbies Trump to Avoid Meta Antitrust Trial

• Bill Gates Foundation, Other Nonprofits Could Lose Tax-Exempt Status Over Anti-White Discrimination.

• Learning from the Legacy of 18F

• Trump Derangement Syndrome

  a pejorative term used to describe negative reactions to US President Donald Trump that are perceived to be irrational and to have little regard for Trump's actual policy positions. The term has mainly been used by Trump supporters to discredit criticism of him, as a way of reframing the discussion by suggesting that his opponents are incapable of accurately perceiving the world. The term has also come to be used to describe the nature of Trump supporters in their unwavering support of the president.

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Nashville police release report on Covenant School shooting | Fox News

• L.A. man stabbed, shot and pushed off cliff lives to testify about alleged hit

• Heralded as "Luigi inspired": ‘A lot more scary,’ Madera Walgreens shooting has residents on edge

  Madera Police say 30-year-old Narciso Fernandez traveled nearly an hour and a half north, walked into a Walgreens and shot an employee dead. Fernandez then fired his handgun at other staff and customers before officers arrived and detained him without incident. “I’ve not seen anything to this magnitude in our town,” Walgreens shopper and Madera native Alexis Miller-Jones said. “He not only point blank murdered the store employee Erick Velasquez, but the store manager and a female victim after the shooting fled out the front door and he turned and started shooting towards them,” Madera Chief of Police Gina Chiaramonte said.

  “He’s from Pixley, has no reason to be here, has no relation to any of the employees or connection to the Walgreens in Madera. He has no criminal history,” Chief Chiaramonte said. However, investigators have revealed Fernandez may have ill-will against pharmacies. “He has generalized anger towards pharmacies through previous issues,” Chief Chiaramonte said.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• (2016) America's dominance is over. By 2030, we'll have handful of global powers

• US officials object to European push to buy weapons locally

• US bans gov't staff from romantic, sexual relations with HK, China citizens - report

World

• Anti-coercion instrument: the EU's new weapon to protect trade

• TikTok Faces Fine over €500M for EU Data Sent to China

• AWS European Sovereign Cloud

• Paris Votes for 500 More Car Free Streets

• With US absent, China steps in for earthquake-hit Myanmar

• Superpowers want to control critical mineral supplies – locals need stronger say

• Panama Canal Railway Company purchased by Denmark's Maersk

• Massive International Pedophile Streaming Network Discovered; TWO MILLION Users Shared Child Porn Across 35 Countries

  • 75 charged, 31 arrests

Iran / Houthi

• Iran abandons Houthis under relentless US bombardment

Israel

• News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World

  • Historically, combatants don't get paid by "news" organizations. That's a recent UN / Hamas Inc innovation.

• Israeli operation in Gaza expanding to seize ‘large areas,’ defense minister says.

• Israeli Mossad asks African countries to take Palestinians from Gaza

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Ukraine's Ravaged Environment

China

• Samsung turns to China to boost its ailing semiconductor division

• The decade-long growth of government-authored news media in China

Health / Medicine

• Some gut bacteria could make certain drugs less effective, study indicates

• Four decades not sleeping well – until a doctor took my insomnia seriously

• Why Genetic Medicine Never Arrived

• the success of Obamacare: In U.S., Inability to Pay for Care, Medicine Hits New High

• Texas children treated for Vitamin A toxicity as medical disinformation spreads

• How Laughing Gas Revives Stressed Brain Circuits to Relieve Depression Fast.

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Dramatic cuts in China's air pollution drove surge in global warming

• Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer

• The environmental burden of the United States' Bitcoin mining boom

• I made my home fossil-fuel-free. Why did my utility bills nearly double?

• Startup Says It Can Clean Your Blood of Microplastics

• A Super Fungus Is Evolving in Polluted Cities – and It's Spreading Through Cats

• How Allergies Affect Animals

• Hurricane Committee Retires Names of Beryl, Helene, Milton and John

• The Earliest Category 5 Hurricane Ever Recorded Just Formed

• The Next Big Thing in Carbon Capture? Trash

• Leaked files raise fears over safety of Shell oil production fleet