2025-08-12

etc

• Why prewar apartments stopped being built

  Interestingly, the shift away from prewar layouts also began pre-war. The New York Times ran a small item in 1930 where architect Morris Witson advocated for the modernization of the many “old” buildings across the city. These buildings may have been just a decade or two old, but their 5-to-10 room layouts were no longer drawing tenants. Morris urged for redevelopment into apartments of two to three rooms. He argued that not only would this create jobs for those who need them, but it would also meet the “crying need” for more manageably sized apartments that was steadily growing among city dwellers. That need would become the presiding influence over apartment development. During Manhattan’s heyday of apartment building in the 1920s, 16% of the 83,500 apartments built had at least six rooms. In the years following the war, that would fall to around 1% of new apartments as tastes shifted toward homes with fewer rooms, more open layouts, and easily accessible kitchens that didn’t necessarily assume live-in staff.

  And then there’s “the servant problem.” Let us not forget that these vast prewar apartments not only accommodated but relied on sometimes substantial cohorts of live-in staff to run and operate as intended. By the early-mid 20th century, expenses related to domestic staff were rising while fewer and fewer people were entering that line of work with its long hours, grueling duties, and low pay. “The servant problem,” as it became known, only became more acute as the decades rolled on, and these large apartments, some of which had 30%-50% of their square footage devoted to staff quarters, became obsolete.

• Beloved by bands and bank robbers, the Ford Transit turns 60

• Colorado prison evacuated as wildfire grows into one of largest in state history.

• Explosions at US Steel's Clairton Coke Works in Pennsylvania: One Dead, Dozens Hurt

  Explosions at a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh on Monday left one person dead, two others missing, and at least nine hospitalized, officials said. Emergency crews continued combing through the badly charred rubble into the evening, searching for victims. The blasts sent thick black smoke spiraling into the midday sky over the Mon Valley, a region that has been synonymous with steelmaking for more than a century. Allegheny County Emergency Services spokesperson Kasey Reigner confirmed that "one person died and two were currently believed to be unaccounted for," adding that others were treated for injuries. The fire at the plant began around 10:51 a.m., officials said, and the explosions prompted authorities to urge the public to avoid the area so first responders could work. The impact was felt well beyond the plant's boundaries.

Horseshit

• AirKart is a high-performance eVTOL that you could rent for under $250

• Design for Women, by Women

• 1910: The Year the Modern World Lost Its Mind

  Blom describes how turn-of-the-century technology changed the way people thought about art and human nature and how it contributed to a nervous breakdown across the west. Disoriented by the speed of modern times, Europeans and Americans suffered from record-high rates of anxiety and a sense that our inventions had destroyed our humanity. Meanwhile, some artists channeled this disorientation to create some of the greatest art of all time. In today’s TSMP, I want to share with you my favorite passages and lessons from The Vertigo Years, most of which come from the chapter on the year 1910. Great history books remind us that while history never repeats itself, its themes never stop rhyming, and we would all do well to listen with open ears.

• He Announced His Intention to Die. The Dinner Invitations Rolled In

• Most of America Opposed the Moon Landing

• The British conspiracy guru building a sovereign micronation in Appalachia

• Fusion Reactors Could Turn Mercury into Gold–Just Like Alchemy

• Scientists Announce a Physical Warp Drive Is Now Possible

celebrity gossip

• Steve Wozniak on fighting internet scams

  You might think that YouTube, owned by Google, would be quick to take down a fraudulent video using the image of Apple's co-founder, but you'd be wrong. "We never got to YouTube; our lawyer has gotten to their lawyer, that's all," said Steve.

• Zuckerberg's Compound Had Something That Violated City Code: A Private School

Musk

• Tesla remotely deactivates rapper's vehicle for singing about the Cybertruck

  • Cybertruck deactivated on road after a cease and desist for using it in a song

• Musk's Tesla applies to supply power to British homes

• Cybertruck Leads Tesla's Used-Car Collapse

• Grok Claims It Was Briefly Suspended from X After Accusing Israel of Genocide

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Major advertising spend apparently: Ford Aims for Revolution with $30k Electric Truck

  • $30k Ford EV truck due in 2027 with much-simpler production process

  • Ford Announces $30k Mid-Size EV Truck for 2027

  • Ford reveals breakthrough process for lower priced EVs

  • Ford throws out Henry Ford's assembly line to make low-cost EVs in America

• Revel Exits NYC Rideshare, Seeks Buyer for TLC Plates, to Focus on EV Charging

  • Revel Pulls Plug on Electric Vehicle Ride-Share Business in New York

• GM Plans Renewed Driverless-Car Push After Cruise Debacle

• The Whole World Is Switching to EVs Faster Than You

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• You don't need to be a biologist to see the problem with "sex isn't binary"

  • The intersection of "intersex" and "functional" is very small, alas.

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Black Market for Fake Science Growing Faster Than Legit Research Study Warns

• Stanford Sticks with Legacy Admissions

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• AOL to discontinue dial-up internet

• Google TV's Uncertain Future

  • Google TV operating system struggling to generate revenue

• The Chrome VRP Panel has decided to award $250k for this report

  • HN comments

• Online news publishers face extinction-level event from Google AI-powered search

  • How many went extinct from the google cache? more than a few...

• Instagram's new 'Friend Map' feature puts your privacy at risk

• Intel CPU Temperature Monitoring Driver for Linux Now Unmaintained After Layoffs

• Cat soap operas and babies trapped in space: the 'AI slop' taking over YouTube

• Auf Wiedersehen, GitHub – CEO Steps Down

  • GitHub is no longer independent at Microsoft after CEO resignation

• Reddit will block the Internet Archive

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• Bcachefs to be removed from mainline Linux kernel

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• A Kentucky Town Experimented with AI. The Results Were Stunning

  In a divided America, a Kentucky town used AI to strip away political labels and discovered its residents agree on almost everything.

• Theft is not fair use

• Ex-Google Exec Says "The Idea That AI Will Create New Jobs Is 100% Crap"

• EU's new AI code of practice could set regulatory standard for US companies

• Wyoming data center uses 5x more power than the state's human occupants

• Swiftly deprecating old models' users depended on mistake, says OpenAI's Altman

• Google launches Gemini Deep Think AI, reasoning model that tests parallel ideas

• Sam Altman now says AGI, is 'not a super useful term'

• Why the em dash is attracting unfair suspicion

• Meta makes conservative activist an AI bias advisor following lawsuit

• Eye-Popping Electric Bills Come Due as Price of AI Revolution

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Space Rock That Punched Through Roof Almost Struck Resident

Crypto con games

• Crypto Investors Accused of Kidnapping in Soho Townhouse

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Spending is being held up by the wealthy, lower income groups continues to fade

• Beyond Meat is headed to Chapter 11 bankruptcy

• Las Vegas sees drop in tourism, hinting at broader economic woes

• "largest US landlord" Justice Dept. Settles with Greystar to End Participation in Algorithmic Pricing

• Former Intel CEO Craig Barrett's Plan to Save Intel

• The $10k Job Search: Career Coaching, LinkedIn Fees, Résumé Help

• America's housing market is shuddering

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Nvidia, AMD to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US, official says

  • Nvidia and AMD to pay 15% of their China sales revenue to the US govt

  • Trump Administration to Take 15% Cut of Nvidia and AMD Chip Sales to China

  • Nvidia and AMD hit with 15% US tariffs on sales to China

  • Nvidia and AMD reportedly agree to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US

  • Nvidia and AMD cut a revenue sharing deal with Trump

  • Nvidia and AMD to pay 15% of revenues from chip sales to China to the U.S. gov

  • Nvidia, AMD agree to pay U.S. government 15% of AI chip sales to China

  • Nvidia navigates US-China 'tightrope' in AI chip sales

  • Trump draws backlash over deal to sell Nvidia export control license

• Chinese nationals living in Texas sue to block land ownership ban, calling it discriminatory.

• FCC Proposes Modernization of the Nation's Alerting Systems

Trump

• The Deep Meaning of Canoe-Gate

  JD Vance and his wife Usha wanted to take their three young children canoeing (or kayaking, accounts differ) on the Little Miami River, near their Ohio home, for JD’s birthday. Canoes and kayaks are entirely different craft–the fact that left-wing news outlets don’t seem to know the difference is typical–but what they have in common is that they draw very little water. The Secret Service doesn’t use canoes for its protective details, it uses motorized water craft–speedboats. Portions of the Little Miami River, at this point in the summer, were deep enough for a canoe or a kayak, but not deep enough to operate a motorboat. So the Secret Service had the Corps of Engineers release some water to temporarily raise the level of the Little Miami in order for its boats to operate safely.

• The U.S. military prepares to deploy National Guard troops in Washington, D.C

  • Trump places Washington DC police under fed control, will deploy national guard

  • Washington, DC police put under federal control, National Guard deployed

  • Trump puts Washington police under federal control, National Guard to be deployd

  • Trump takes control of DC police, deploying National Guard in capital crime crackdown

  President Trump announced a historic escalation of law enforcement in DC on Monday, deploying the National Guard to patrol the streets and placing the city’s police department under federal control. “We’re going to clean it up real quick,” Trump told reporters at the White House, noting the high crime rate in the nation’s capital and the Aug. 3 attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer trying to stop an attempted carjacking by 10 teens. “You spit, and we hit,” Trump said in describing how cops will respond to those who fight back against the law under the newly-established “public safety emergency.”

  If necessary, Trump added, ordinary military members could be deployed to join the National Guard and the local cops. The president has direct control over DC’s National Guard, unlike every other unit, which is under the authority of state governors. Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, Trump has the authority to use the DC Metropolitan Police Department for federal purposes for 30 days.

  “Washington, DC, should be one of the safest, cleanest and most beautiful cities anywhere in the world, and we’re going to make it that,” Trump said of his plans to beautify the District. Homeless encampments will also be removed from all public places, including in parks and underpasses. The US Park Police, under the control of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, will be responsible for the removal of graffiti.

• Trump might hasten marijuana reclassification.

• Trump flipflops on Intel CEO, calls him success days after demanding resignation

  • President Trump Calls Intel CEO a 'Success' After Meeting

• Trump Extends China Tariff Deadline by 90 Days, Again

• Trump signs executive order to contest payment processor censorship

Democrats

• House Oversight wants to gather evidence that could overturn Biden’s pardons, executive orders

  "It's questionable whether or not it's legal to use an autopen on a legal document, but what's not questionable is if the President of the United States had no idea what was being signed with using the autopen in his name,” Comer told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Friday. “Then, you know, that's not legal.”

Left Angst

• EU sets out to lure US scientists amid Trump funding cuts

• Global science bodies pivot to capitalize on US brain drain

• H-1B visas: government mandates in-person interviews for overseas renewals

• Palantir CEO says working at his $430B company is better than a Harvard degree

• What Does Palantir Actually Do?

• Trump's new executive order threatens US scientific freedom

• Medical journal rejects Kennedy's call for retraction of vaccine study

• RFK Jr. posted fishing pics as CDC reeled from shooting

  • Still better than Beto's "postpartum" pix.

• A casualty of the Trump administration's disruption of science

• U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism with American Characteristics

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• GPS Jamming Extends to Low-Earth Orbit

  • GPS isn't supposed to work at orbital velocities anyway, no?

• After Almost Losing Trump, Putin Gets His Ideal Summit

World

• Social media giants face fines for curbing free speech

  Ministers have told platforms including Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok they must not restrict access to posts that express lawfully held views. The warning, in an apparent change of tone from ministers, comes amid a backlash over websites blocking users from viewing material, including parliamentary debates about grooming gangs. Campaigners have said that free speech is threatened by the Government’s application of the Online Safety Act, which is meant to protect children from harmful content. Whitehall sources have expressed concern that social media firms, some of which have criticised the law, “have been overzealous” in enforcing it and must be “mindful” of the right to freedom of expression. The Science Department, which oversees the legislation, told companies they could face fines if they failed to uphold free speech rules.

• Wikipedia operator loses court challenge to UK Online Safety Act regulations

  • Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act verification rules

• Spain Is Going Its Own Way

• A new poverty line shifted the World Bank's poverty data. What changed and why?

• British backpacker pleads guilty to killing man while drunk on e-scooter

• UK's AI ambitions clash with its climate goals

• Vigilante Tube passengers face arrest over ‘assault’ of naked man on the Tube after they took law into their hands when he dropped his trousers on packed carriage

• Drink-driving limit in England and Wales to change from autumn in shake-up

• Starbucks Korea bans customers from bringing desktops, printers

• A Supreme Court Coup D'Etat in Brazil

Israel

• Al Jazeera condemns the assassination of its journalists by the IOF

• Israel kills Al Jazeera journalist it says was Hamas leader

• Israel's Leviathan signs $35B natural gas supply deal with Egypt

• Reporters killed and foreigners barred in Israel's battle for Gaza narrative

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Russia's Shadow Fleet: The Dangerous Tanker Network Threatening Global Waters

China

• China's Automakers Are Taking a Shortcut to European Markets

• (Dec 2024) Will all our drugs come from China?

• Chinese vessels collide chasing Philippine boat in disputed South China Sea

• ‘Absolutely impossible’: how China created super steel for nuclear fusion

  • Scientists Made 'Super Steel' That Could Take Fusion to the Next Level

  • The Engineering Marvel That China Hopes Will Help Wean It Off Foreign Energy

• Leeds teenager woke up with a Chinese bounty on her head

Health / Medicine

• Study on Mice Suggests Nose-Picking Has a Surprising Link with Alzheimer's

• Why Hasn't Medical Science Cured Chronic Headaches?

• One-size-fits-all pancreatic cancer vaccine showed promise in early trial

• Canada Gave Citizens the Right to Die. Doctors Are Struggling to Meet Demand

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• California's wildfire moonshot: How new technology will defeat advancing flames

• Meat Taxes Are Super Risky. Maybe We Can Make Them Work

  While meat taxes can probably reduce the amount of meat we consume, they might actually increase the number of animals we consume. If that sounds counterintuitive, let me introduce you to the small body problem: to get the same amount of meat from chickens as we would from a single cow, we must kill around 200 chickens, given they have, well, smaller bodies. Even if people reduce their overall meat consumption and swap some of the beef they would have eaten for chicken, the number of animals suffering in factory farms will still increase, even if everyone is eating more plants.

• Wind and solar power helps keep America's farms alive

• Climate change driving major algae surge in Canada's lakes, study finds

• Swarm of jellyfish shuts French nuclear plant

  • French nuclear plant shuts down due to swarm of jellyfish in cooling systems

• The Rise of Green Wall Street

• Nova Scotia bans hiking and use of vehicles in woods due to wildfire fears

• Summer 2025 a cavalcade of climate extremes

• Toxic Shale Drilling Wastewater Threatens Top Oil Fields, Texas Agency Warns

• Blue whales suddenly going silent. Why they think it's happening

• The brutal trade-off that will decide the future of food

• Milwaukee Experiences 1,000-Year Rain Event

• Canada wildfire season second worst on record experts warn 'new reality'