2025-06-24

etc

• Royal Observatory Greenwich: The birthplace of modern astronomy turns 350

Horseshit

• I See Your Smartphone-Addicted Life

• San Francisco's Billboards Aren't For You

  the proliferation of these incomprehensible tech billboards seems quite strange. Billboards are, recall, large display advertisements located in high-traffic areas that are meant to be seen by a mass audience. How did the billboards of San Francisco come to be taken over by brash promises for niche products that are indecipherable and unactionable for the majority of the viewers? Whatever happened to selling consumer goods to the general public? There are ads for iPhones and Nikes here, of course, but they are crowded out by a colossal variety of ads featuring inscrutable tech jargon. The simple explanation is an obvious one: because B2B sales is an extremely profitable industry. Even if the vast majority of the people who see any given billboard are not potential buyers of that product, if even a single person is influenced into purchasing, that could cover the cost of renting the billboard, and more. Especially if that one person signs a large contract that brings in a lot of annual recurring revenue. If a company is trying to reach people who are in the market for the specific kind of B2B product they’re selling, a billboard on the 101 isn’t a bad idea; maybe there are only a dozen of those people in the world, but they all probably live nearby, and they’ll probably see it on their way to work. It’s expensive, sure, but if it translates into sales, it’s worth it.

• What I learned recording hours of teens on their phones

• The symbol of earthly good, and the immediate object of toil

• Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

• Have Appliances Declined in Durability?

  yes, there has been a modest decline in durability, but the main drivers are customer preferences, regulatory shifts, and Baumol effects—not corporate malfeasance or cultural decline.

  • "Yes, but that's no reason to listen to the people complaining about it"

• Why don't Americans trust experts? Just ask a paranormal investigator

• Sure they will: New York to Build One of First U.S. Nuclear-Power Plants in Generation

  • New York State Plans to Build New Nuclear Power Plant

  • Hochul orders NY Power Authority to build a nuclear power plant in Upstate NY

• Things We Learned from the New Baby Name Popularity Stats

• What Happens When Hertz's AI Scanner Finds Damage on Your Rental

• Sailing the fjords like the Vikings yields unexpected insights

• 'Peak flower power era': The story of first ever Glastonbury Festival in 1970

• The Holy Grail of Automation: Now a Robot Can Unload a Truck

• Unpacking the tech bros' fascination with the Roman Empire

• The reason we rarely see smiles in art history

• Giant asteroid could crash into moon in 2032, firing debris towards Earth

celebrity gossip

• Long-time rivals Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds meet

• Dr. Demento Announces His Retirement After 55 Years on the Air

• Carol Kaye Rejects Rock Hall of Fame Induction

  People have been asking: NO I won’t be there……. I am declining the rrhof awards show (and denny tedesco process)…..turning it down because it wasn’t something that reflects the work that Studio Musicians do and did in the golden era of the 1960s Recording Hits…….. you are always part of a TEAM, not a solo artist at all….there were always 350-400 Studio Musicians (AFM Local 47 Hollywood) working in the busy 1960s, and called that ONLY ….since 1930s, I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all….that’s a terrible insulting name. Just so you know, as a working Jazz musician (soloing jazz guitar work) in the 1950s working since 1949, I was accidentally asked to record records by producer Bumps Blackwell in 1957, got into recording good music, w/Sam Cooke, other artists and then accidentally placed on Fender Precision Bass mid 1963 when someone didn’t show…….I never played bass in my life but being an experienced recording guitarist, it was plain to see that 3 bass players hired to play “dum-de-dum” on record dates, wasn’t getting it…..it was easy for me to invent good bass lines…..as a Jazz musician, you invent every note you play……and they used a lot of Jazz musicians (and former big-band experienced musicians on all those rock and pop dates too)………..I refuse to be part of a process that is something else rather than what I believe in, for others’ benefit and not reflecting on the truth – we all enjoyed working with EACH OTHER……..Thank-You for understanding.” -Carol Kaye

Obit

• FedEx founder Fred Smith dies at 80

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• True Costs of Misinformation – The Global Spread of Misinformation Laws

Musk

• Billionaire slams 'Tesla Cultists' for praising Robotaxi, despite Waymo's lead

• Tesla launches robotaxi service in Austin with $4.20 flat fee

• Tesla launches robotaxi rides in Austin

• The 560-pound Twitter sign met a fiery end in a Nevada desert

  Earlier this year, the 12-foot tall, 560-pound Twitter logo that used to sit atop the company's San Francisco headquarters was auctioned off for $34,000. Now, we know who bought it and what became of the sign: it was blown up in the Nevada desert as part of an elaborate stunt to promote an online marketplace app. In some ways, "Larry," as the blue Twitter bird was known to former employees, met an end that mirrors the death of the social media platform it once represented: an explosive, expensive spectacle that leaves you wondering what, exactly, was the point of it all.

• Zevo's EV-only car-share fleet is helping Tesla owners make money

• Supervisors in each robotaxi ride have right thumb constantly on door button

• Is Elon Musk Afraid of Donald Trump?

• Elon Musk's Lawyers Claim He 'Does Not Use a Computer'

• Tesla Robotaxi Videos Show Speeding, Driving into Wrong Lane

Electric / Self Driving cars

• A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Electric Vehicles

• All-wheel drive EVs at 210 MPH? Formula E's next car gets upgrade

• Ford Will Keep Battery Factory Even If Republicans Ax Tax Break

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Tennessee’s lawsuit against the Education Department imperils Latino students

  Last week, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced that his state had teamed up with a right-wing organization called Students for Fair Admissions — which won a Supreme Court case against affirmative action admission policies in 2023 — in a lawsuit aiming to end the Hispanic-Serving Institution federal designation. HSIs are colleges and universities where at least 25% of the undergraduate students are Hispanic. Much like historically Black colleges and universities, these schools have, at times, received specially authorized funding because a large number of their students come from racial or ethnic groups that have historically faced discrimination — and, in many cases, still do. But Tennessee’s lawsuit argues that the HSI classification is discriminatory in and of itself, and asks a U.S. district court to declare it unconstitutional.

• Conservative Group Accuses Michigan Law Review Of Discrimination Against Heterosexual White Men In Selection Of Members And Articles.

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Disabling Intel Graphics Security Mitigation Boosts GPU Compute Performance 20%

• Eyeglasses with Built-In Hearing Aids: This Just Makes Sense

• The music industry is building the tech to hunt down AI songs

• Telegram's looking for an Android dev – who'll earn $1M / year after tax

• Not the 'Star Wars' you thought you knew

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• On X11 and the Fascists Maggots – Rust in Peace

  2 weeks ago I published a blogpost about the upcoming plans of GNOME 49 and the eventual removal of the X11 session. Since then, instead of looking at feedback, bugs and issues related to the topic, we all collectively had to deal with the following, and I am not exaggerating one bit:

  • Fascists and Nazis
  • Wild Conspiracy Theories that make Qanon jealous
  • “Concerned” Trolling about the Accessibility of the Wayland session
  • A culture war where Wayland is Gay, and X11 is the glorious past they stole from you

  On behalf of all the desktop developers I have to state the following: There is no place for Fascists within the Open Source and Free Software communities or the society at large. You will never fester your poisonous roots here. Go back to the cave you crawled out from where no sunlight can reach.

  • That's the most rational part of what he has to say. I'm not sure how good a defense "anyone who disagrees with me is a Nazi" is, anymore. it's wearing thin. Especially in technical debates where there's user metrics (aka "data') available.

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Using ChatGPT to write essays may be eroding critical thinking skills

• AI's Biggest Threat: Young People Who Can't Think

• Applebee's and IHOP Plan to Introduce AI in Restaurants

• The role of the University is to resist AI

  This means that AI is actually a giant material infrastructure with huge demands for energy, water and concrete, while the supply chain for specialised computer chips is entangled with geopolitical conflict. It also means that the AI industry will beg, borrow and steal, or basically just steal, all the text, images and audio that it can get its spidery hands on. A marginal point of note for both AI and UK higher education was a recent outburst by former politician and Facebook exec Nick Clegg, who was complaining that copyright is killing the AI industry. Clegg being, of course, the man who betrayed his promise to scrap student fees in 2011, and is now betraying writers, artists and musicians.

• OpenAI and Jony Ive's "io" brand has disappeared

  • OpenAI removes mentions of Jony Ive Deal

  • OpenAI takes down mentions of Jony Ive's io amid trademark row

• Zuckerberg Leads AI Recruitment Blitz Armed with $100M Pay Packages

• What if customers say no to AI?

• Chatbots have not led to significant changes in wages or working hours

• Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming

• We Asked ChatGPT to Be Mean

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Asteroids and galaxies shine in images from the largest telescope

  • Vera C. Rubin Observatory Releases Long-Awaited First Photos

  • Vera Rubin Scientists Reveal Telescope's First Images

  • Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

• NASA's LRO Views Ispace Hakuto-R Mission 2 Moon Lander Impact Site

• Psyche keeps its date with an asteroid, but now it's running in backup mode

• Increase in Ariane 6 launch cadence could take several years.

Crypto con games

• Bitcoin Falls 4%

• Stablecoins Undermine Decentralization and the Vision for Financial Freedom

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Couchbase to Be Acquired for $1.5B

• Gold prices surge, mine operators launch drones to detect wildcat miners

• Young Investor Demand for Alternative Assets Is Reshaping Wall Street's Playbook

• Compass files lawsuit against Zillow over private home listings policy

  • Compass Sues to Stop 'Zillow Ban'

• Why Factories Are Having Trouble Filling Nearly 400k Open Jobs

• Oil prices sink after Iranian strike on US airbase reduces fears of disruption

• Chance That Oil Prices Top $100? and What Might Happen If They Did?

• Can't do business in CA: Gas may spike to $8/gal as 2 major refineries shut down

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes THC ban

• WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

• Media Matters Sues FTC over Advertising Investigation

Trump

• Gabbard’s standing in Trump World comes into question

  Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s strength and standing within the Trump administration is coming under question after the president twice publicly brushed off her testimony that Iran is not close to developing a nuclear weapon, and amid reports of tensions between the two.

• MxM News: Trump declares war on Thomas Massie, promises primary challenge

  President Donald Trump tore into Rep. Thomas Massie on Sunday, blasting the Kentucky congressman for siding with Democrats and opposing a decisive U.S. military operation that crippled three of Iran’s most critical nuclear facilities. “Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him.” Trump accused Massie of consistently opposing critical Republican policies and likened him to “Rand Paul, Jr.” for his habit of voting no on major legislation. Trump blasted him as “a simple-minded grandstander” and said Massie was playing into Iran’s hands by trying to block efforts to prevent the Islamic regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Left Angst

• GOP Bill Would Legalize Doge and Let Trump Dismantle Everything

• US embassy wants 'every social media username of past five years' for new visas

• Trump can pull the plug on the internet, and Europe can't do anything about it

  Donald Trump’s return to the White House is forcing Europe to reckon with a major digital vulnerability: The U.S. holds a kill switch over its internet. As the U.S. administration raises the stakes in a geopolitical poker game that began when Trump started his trade war, Europeans are waking up to the fact that years of over-reliance on a handful of U.S. tech giants have given Washington a winning hand. The fatal vulnerability is Europe’s near-total dependency on U.S. cloud providers. Cloud computing is the lifeblood of the internet, powering everything from the emails we send and videos we stream to industrial data processing and government communications. Just three American behemoths — Amazon, Microsoft, and Google — hold more than two-thirds of the regional market, putting Europe’s online existence in the hands of firms cozying up to the U.S. president to fend off looming regulations and fines.

• Opinion | Autism Rates Have Increased 60-Fold. I Played a Role in That. - The New York Times

  Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of health and human services, is correct that reported autism rates have exploded in the last 30 years — they’ve increased roughly 60-fold — but he is dead wrong about the causes. I should know, because I am partly responsible for the explosion in rates. The rapid rise in autism cases is not because of vaccines or environmental toxins, but rather is the result of changes in the way that autism is defined and assessed — changes that I helped put into place.

  my task force approved the inclusion of the new diagnosis, Asperger’s disorder, which is much milder in severity than classic autism and much more common. In doing so, we were responding to child psychiatrists’ and pediatricians’ concerns for children who did not meet the extremely stringent criteria for classic autism, but had similar symptoms in milder form and might benefit from services.

• Democrats Got Caught in a Huge Lie About Trump’s Iran Strike – PJ Media

  CNN tried to stir controversy by reporting that while House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune were briefed ahead of time, Democrat leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries were only informed shortly before the public announcement, after the operation had already taken place. But as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained on Fox News, this was nothing more than a misleading narrative designed to distract from a major American victory. Leavitt didn’t just push back; she dismantled the lie piece by piece. "We did make bipartisan calls," Leavitt stated, setting the record straight from the outset. "Thomas Massie and the Democrats — he should be a Democrat 'cause he's more aligned with them than with the Republican Party — were given notice. The White House made calls to congressional leadership. They were bipartisan calls." "In fact, Hakeem Jeffries couldn't be reached," she explained. "We tried him before the strike and he didn't pick up the phone, but he was briefed after, as well as Chuck Schumer was briefed prior to the strike."

• Trump's war with Iran signals perilous shift from showman to strongman

• Florida Builds 'Alligator Alcatraz' Detention Center for Migrants in Everglades

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Iran launches six missiles toward US bases in Qatar

  • Explosions in Qatar after credible threat of Iranian attack on US-run airbase

  • Iran attacks U.S. military base in Qatar with missiles

  • Iran State Media Announces Attack on U.S. Military in Qatar

• Iran cyberattacks against US biz more likely following air strikes

• Trump announces Israel-Iran ceasefire

  Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said that the ceasefire will take effect just after midnight on the East Coast of the United States, with the war slated to officially end 12 hours later. “This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will!” Trump wrote in the post. Neither Israel nor Iran immediately confirmed Trump’s announcement that they had agreed to a ceasefire. Both countries have been indirectly fighting since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against Israel by Tehran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, and they have traded direct fire intermittently since 2024. But after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities earlier this month, the two longtime Middle East adversaries have launched volleys of drones and missiles against each other.

  • Trump announces parameters of ceasefire between Israel and Iran

World

• Twenty killed in suicide bombing at Damascus church | Reuters

• France's court of auditors estimates $6.8B public spending for 2024 Olympics

• EU rules for durable, energy-efficient and repairable smartphones and tablets

• Iran used drug traffickers to stoke trouble in France, says minister

• Canada Says Network Devices Compromised in China-Linked Hack

• Russian A.I. at the heart of São Paulo's urban surveillance effort

• Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

• Experts count staggering costs incurred by UK retail amid cyberattack hell

• Economists sceptical over UK Spending Review's partly AI-driven 10% budget cuts

• Religious corporation sales rising in Japan amid tax evasion concerns

• Oman to impose personal income tax, a first among Gulf states

• The case for a Canadian wealth tax

• Rich Americans flock to apply for New Zealand's golden visas after rules relaxed

• Colombian soldiers fought guerrillas. Now they're fighting for Mexican cartels

• Putin knows we are spreadsheet warriors

• Canadian telecom hacked by suspected China state group

Iran / Houthi

• Iranian parliament votes to close the Strait of Hormuz

• Where is Iran's uranium? Questions remain over stash of enriched material

• All eyes on the Strait of Hormuz, a 90-mile strip critical to global oil prices

• Iran threatened attacks by sleeper cells inside U.S. if it was attacked

• Tankers on Edge in the Strait of Hormuz

• Trump administration confident in uranium site strikes

• Israeli warning call to top Iranian general: 'You have 12 hours to escape'

• Officials Concede They Don't Know the Fate of Iran's Uranium Stockpile

China

• Huawei chair: future is fiber-to-the-room; value of delivery riders, influencers

• Can We See Our Future in China's Cameras?

• DeepSeek aids China's military and evaded export controls, US official says

• Chinese satellite achieves 5x Starlink speed with 2-watt laser from 36km orbit

• China Solar Additions Surge to Record 93GW in May Ahead of Deadline

Health / Medicine

• The Sad Case of the Youngest-Ever Alzheimer's Diagnosis

• Backlash to artificial dye grows as Kraft ditches coloring for Kool-Aid, Jell-O

• Cannabis use disorder may increase risk for certain psychiatric illnesses

• DHEA-S hormone linked to shorter lifespan in men, but not women

• Frequent Nightmares Linked to Faster Aging and Premature Death

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• 'It takes 25 years for a footprint to disappear' – the magic of Britain's bogs

• Earth’s Oxygen Levels And Magnetic Field Strength Show Strong Correlation

  • Strong link between Earth's oxygen level and geomagnetic dipole revealed

• Plutonium levels at test site in WA up to 4500x higher than coast, study finds

• Could a French mine full of waste poison the drinking water of millions?

• Solar-Powered Canoes Provide a Better Way to Get Around in the Amazon