New posts from the.micro.blog
Apple cancelling their electric car project has to be huge news within the company!
🔗 Articles: Tue 27.Feb.2024
NewsNation: Wendy’s hints at possible ‘surge-pricing’ menu
During a Feb. 15 investor call, CEO Kirk Tanner said the company plans to spend about $20 million to roll out digital menu boards to all restaurants by the end of 2025.
The new menu boards, he says, will allow restaurants to experiment with “surge pricing,” meaning customers could pay more for the same items depending on demand and time of day.
My guess is that this would be a disaster for them.
New Republic: The Hot New Luxury Good for the Rich: Air
The building’s approach to filtration is undeniably sophisticated. The air in each unit isn’t shared with any other. Outside air is brought in, filtered, treated with an ultraviolet-C light that kills 99.9 percent of pathogens, and completely changed out once per hour. Circulation can be boosted or slowed. Most apartments with similar systems recycle the air every four to five hours a day. “We were thinking, if we’re already going to build a Ferrari, then why would we only give it a 200-horsepower engine?” Roe said. “Let’s put a 1,000-horsepower engine into it.” The quadruple-layer, triple-paned windows feature museum-quality glass and are generally opened only for cleaning. Otherwise, you’d let in air far dirtier than what’s circulating inside.
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On June 7, 2023, New York City briefly had the worst air quality in the world. The sky turned auburn as smoke from wildfires … spread throughout the boroughs. The horizon vanished into an orange haze. It was not hard to feel that we were living in an era Stephen Pyne, an emeritus professor at Arizona State University, has called the Pyrocene. Last year, at one point or another, New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Detroit, and Portland, Oregon, all had air in the “hazardous” or “unhealthy” range, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. A September 2023 study found that wildfires have erased 25 percent of air-quality improvements made since 2000. By mid-2023, the average American’s smoke exposure was worse than their total cumulative exposure every year since 2006.
MagPi magazine: The MagPi issue 138
Discover a new generation of retro computers in the latest edition of The MagPi magazine. Head back to the year 2000 with this guide to emulating the Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Dreamcast. Packed with legal ROMs and new games.
- Next gen retro with Raspberry Pi 5. Turn the super-fast Raspberry Pi 5 into a range of new classic consoles
- Art and crafts with Raspberry Pi. The intersection of making and technology is a magical place
- Discover sound synthesizers with Bullfrog. This incredible project uses RP2040 and wires to explain sound synthesizers
- All new HAT+ hardware. A new specification for Raspberry Pi Hardware Attached on Top is revealed
- Raspberry Pi at Maker Faire Shenzen. Eben Upton and Raspberry Pi head to the Maker Faire event in China
- WIN! CrowVision 11.6-inch screens
Errata
Real Time Clock (RTC), P40-42. This article has been updated to advise against using trickle charging and a lithium battery.
The annotation on Page 41 now directs readers to the BAT connection instead of UART (thanks to RaspISteve for spotting this).
TechCrunch: Apple cancels its autonomous electric car project and is laying off some workers
Apple is scuttling its secretive, long-running effort to build an autonomous electric car, executives announced in a short meeting with the team Tuesday morning. The company is likely cutting hundreds of employees from the team and all work on the project has stopped, TechCrunch has learned.
Some remaining employees will be shifted to Apple’s generative AI projects, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the project’s cancellation. Others will have 90 days to find a reassignment to other roles inside the company, or they will be let go. The car project still had around 1,400 employees working on it, according to one employee who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about their work.
BBC: Satoshi Kirishima: DNA test confirms dying man was one of Japan’s most wanted
Satoshi Kirishima: DNA test confirms dying man was one of Japan’s most wanted.
A DNA test has revealed a dying man who claimed to be one of Japan’s most wanted criminals was telling the truth.
Satoshi Kirishima made his confession in January, telling police “I want to meet my death with my real name”.
Officials have now confirmed the 70-year-old was indeed Kirishima, a member of a militant group behind several deadly bombings in the 1970s.
Entomology Today: What Eats Ticks? Study Puts an Old Technique to New Use
A key component of any integrated pest management program involves the use of natural predators. But interactions between ticks and possible predators are not well studied.
To address this knowledge gap, a team of scientists in Russia and the Czech Republic studied possible predators of Ixodes ricinus, commonly known as the castor bean tick, among the most common species in Europe. The researchers used a method called stable isotope labeling, and the study, published in December 2023 in the_ Journal of Medical Entomology_, marks the first known use of isotope labeling to identify tick predators.
Last Updated: 27.Feb.2024 23:59 EST
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🔗 Articles: Wed 28.Feb.2024
WashPo: Elizabeth Becker: Jim McDermott left Congress. Then he had to leave the country.
He made a radical leap from a comfortable retirement in the United States to a stone cottage in rural France for reasons that are suddenly timely for friends and former colleagues in D.C. who are facing the possibility that a vengeful Donald Trump could win the presidential election.
In private conversations with McDermott, they wonder how to gauge the seriousness of Trump’s increasingly dire threats to the country’s democratic underpinnings and, potentially, to them and their families. “I get calls from my friends now who say they are scared to do what I did but are scared to stay.”
He tells them: “If you can afford it, buy a second home in France, or Spain, or Portugal, wherever … a second home that could become a safe house,” he said.
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These were his passions during his years in Congress. He didn’t realize how deeply he felt about a nation’s responsibility for the health of its people until he came to this village, where, under the French system, health care is taken for granted, like clean water and a working sewer system.
“It was like I walked through an invisible door. Now I saw and felt what it’s like to live in a community where everyone can go to the doctor. Where children aren’t massacred by gun violence. It changes everything.”
Globe: Ottawa reviewing Indigenous contracting program linked to ArriveCan contractors, Hajdu says
While much of the focus on ArriveCan has centred around GCStrategies, the two-person IT staffing company that received $19.1-million to work on the app for cross-border travellers, concerns have also been expressed about Dalian Enterprises, which received $7.9-million.
Dalian presents itself as an Indigenous-owned company and regularly wins federal contracts under a procurement program that promotes Indigenous businesses. Dalian has also said it has just two staff members. It often operates in joint ventures with Coradix, a larger company that does not bill itself as Indigenous.
Dalian and Coradix have received more than $400-million in federal contract work over the past decade.
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A 2021 research report (PDF) by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business urged the government to address “predatory practices” with the set-aside targets.
“Phantom joint ventures, where an Indigenous partner is used as a front by a non-Indigenous business to obtain a contract set-aside, corrodes the integrity of an Indigenous procurement policy,” the council report stated.
CBC: Winnipeg Jets not in ‘crisis’ despite low ticket sales: NHL commissioner
“I believe that this is a strong NHL market. I believe that ownership has made extraordinary commitments to the Jets, to this arena, to the downtown area, involving hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said.
“I’m not sure why people are now speculating that somehow they’re not going to be here.”
TorStar: Second Toronto cop admits guilt in ‘mistaken identity’ case
With a second Toronto police officer taking responsibility for a “mistaken identity” arrest that involved a knee to the neck, tasering and detention of her son, and another officer disciplined at a station level, Christine Stought-O’Gilvie stood before a row of assembled media in the lobby of police headquarters and delivered a request of all officers.
“Please, treat them with dignity,” Stought-O’Gilvie, a teacher with the Toronto District School Board, said Tuesday morning, addressing Toronto police over their treatment of young Black men, like her son.
Newsweek: Scientists Demonstrate Simple Method to Reduce Microplastics in Your Tap Water
In their study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, the team, led by Zhanjun Li and Eddy Zeng, collected samples of hard tap water from Guangzhou, China, and spiked them with different amounts of nano- and microplastics. The samples were than boiled for five minutes and allowed to cool before the team measured the amount of free-floating plastic present in each sample.
Hard water is rich in minerals and produces small quantities of a chalky substance called limescale, aka calcium carbonate, when it is boiled. If you live in an area with hard water you will recognize this as the white scum floating on the top of your tea and coffee. In fact, as the water boils, this white scum encapsulates the plastic particles, separating them from the rest of the liquid.
If this liquid is then poured through a simple filter, like a coffee filter, the floating limescale, along with the encapsulated plastics, can be separated from the rest of the liquid. In fact, using this method removed up to 90 percent of the free floating micro- and nanoplastics present in the water.
City AM: Octopus Energy chief Greg Jackson: The world isn’t ready for China’s clean energy tidal wave
Bickering amongst policymakers and industry is setting the UK way behind China in the drive towards clean energy, the head of one of the UK’s largest energy providers has said.
Speaking to City A.M. at London’s International Energy Week conference earlier this week, Octopus Energy chief executive Greg Jackson said the UK’s journey to 2030 and beyond will continue to be hampered until activity is prioritised over endless discussion.
“What we need to do is just learn that we need to stop mucking around and bickering about the details and get on with it, or we will be subsumed,” he said.
“The scale of the transition and the countries that are just getting on with it, including obviously China, is astonishing.
We are not ready — very few people are ready — for the tidal wave of innovation that’s going to come out of China in clean energy
Greg Jacksonnone
Guardian: Shock of the old: 11 vintage cigarette ads
In the days when smoking was advertised everywhere, the sell was often genuinely bizarre: from dancing polar bears to Ronald Reagan to recommendations from friendly doctors.
CBC: Comedian, Curb your Enthusiasm star Richard Lewis dead at 76
Singer Billy Joel has said he was referring to Lewis when he sang in My Life, of an old friend who “bought a ticket to the West Coast / Now he gives them a standup routine in L.A.”
CBC: First Nations praise ruling ‘forcing’ Crown to protect interests
Michell says a victory at B.C.’s Court of Appeal this week could change that dynamic for good: forcing the Crown to deal directly with the interests of two First Nations that have been fighting for years to undo the Kenney Dam’s damage to their fish stocks.
“The problem is that we were always dealing with Rio Tinto – a company – and their bottom line is water is where they make their profit through electricity sales,” Michell told the CBC.
CBC: Danielle Smith’s dim view of wind and solar becomes murky policy
They loomed over the landscape along the Crowsnest Highway, the 57 hulking wind turbines of the Cowley Ridge Wind Farm. This was the first commercial wind farm anywhere in Canada, erected in 1993 before being decommissioned eight years ago, replaced by a more efficient TransAlta-owned project Cowley Ridge Wind Farm.
With the Alberta government now declaring a ban on any new wind turbines within 35 kilometres of whatever the province deems “pristine viewscapes,” would this be allowed? Would Canada’s pioneering renewable energy project be kosher under Premier Danielle Smith’s new regime?
“My inability to answer that question is the problem here,” said Evan Wilson, policy vice-president with the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, in an interview Wednesday.
Scripting News (Dave Winer): Safari change
I use Safari on my iPad. The software just updated, and they widened the width of icons in the browser chrome. This knocked three of my links over into the menu, out of easy reach. Why did they feel they could change something so basic? After using the iPad for 14 freaking years, why shake up this tiny little corner of the system? What’s the possible benefit. Or maybe this is just a bug and they’ll fix it? This is the kind of thing that makes me put off updating. Yeah I know it sounds small, but I really use my freaking iPad. It isn’t just for watching movies. I can’t tell you how many iPads I’ve bought. It’s ridiculous. Come on Apple, I’m a customer not a slave.
Can’t argue with this. Happens all the time.
Last Updated: 28.Feb.2024 23:48 EST
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🔗 Articles: Thu 29.Feb.2024
CBC: Brian Mulroney, former prime minister, dead at 84
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney has died. He was 84.
His daughter Caroline Mulroney shared the news Thursday afternoon on social media.
NYT: Darién Gap Migration Is Halted After Colombia Arrests Boat Captains
Nearly a million people have crossed the Darién since 2021, according to the authorities at the end of the route in Panama, helping to fuel an immigration crisis in the United States.
Renewables Now: Epic Energy signs grid connection deal for 100-MW Aussie battery
ElectraNet, the owner of South Australia’s high-voltage transmission network, has signed an agreement for the interconnection of a new 100-MW/200-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in the Aussie state.
The transmission company said on Wednesday that the contract is for domestic infrastructure company Epic Energy’s Mannum project, to be installed next to its local substation and adjacent to recently-built solar farms.
WashPo: Idaho fails to execute serial killer Thomas Creech by lethal injection
Authorities in Idaho halted the execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech on Wednesday after medical workers were unable to insert an IV for lethal injection.
Creech was brought into the execution chamber and strapped down, according to Josh Tewalt, director of the Idaho Department of Correction. “The team attempted eight times, through multiple limbs and appendages, to establish IV access,” he said at a news conference, but those efforts were unsuccessful and the execution was called off.
“Our first objective is to carry this out with dignity, professionalism and respect,” he added.
Barbaric.
NYT: Supreme Court to Hear Trump’s Immunity Claim, With Arguments Set for April
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether former President Donald J. Trump is immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, further delaying his criminal trial as it considers the matter.
The justices scheduled arguments for the week of April 22 and said proceedings in the trial court would remain frozen, handing at least an interim victory to Mr. Trump. His litigation strategy in all of the criminal prosecutions against him has consisted, in large part, of trying to slow things down.
The Supreme Court’s response to Mr. Trump put the justices in the unusual position of deciding another aspect of the former president’s fate: whether and how quickly Mr. Trump could go to trial. That, in turn, could affect his election prospects and, should he be re-elected, his ability to scuttle the prosecution.
Slow-walking it.
WashPo: The future of AI video after Sora is impressive — and flawed
This is Sora, a new tool from OpenAI that can create lifelike, minute-long videos from simple text prompts. When the company unveiled it on Feb. 15, experts hailed it as a major moment in the development of artificial intelligence. Google and Meta also have unveiled new AI video research in recent months. The race is on toward an era when anyone can almost instantly create realistic-looking videos without sophisticated CGI tools or expertise.
The Economist: The violence of “Power Slap” is part of its allure
In January 2023 Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (ufc), a mixed martial-arts firm, launched a new sporting endeavour: Power Slap, America’s first official slap-fighting league. Slap fighting is simple. Two competitors, usually beefy men, slap each other. Hard. The bout typically ends when only one of them is conscious. As recently as a year ago the sport was obscure, watched largely on social media in eastern Europe. Now slap-fighting franchises are starting to hit the mainstream.
The league’s first televised slap fight last year between two welterweights, Chris Thomas and Chris Kennedy, gave a sense of what was to come. Mr Thomas’s initial strike was mighty, rippling Mr Kennedy’s face and sending him to the mat, where he started displaying the fencing response. This is when a person’s arms are extended after a blow. It can be a sign of brain injury. Officials rushed to him and explained, when Mr Kennedy came to, that he had just been knocked out. “Knocked out doing what? Was I fighting?” he asked.
UPI: Alcohol-related deaths rise sharply in U.S., hitting women hardest
Between 2016 and 2021 (the latest numbers available), “the average number of U.S. deaths from excessive alcohol use increased by more than 40,000 [29%], to 178,000 per year,” reported a team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Put another way, during 2020 and 2021, an average of 488 Americans died each day from excessive drinking, the report’s authors concluded.
Electrek: Mullen sees better than testing results from solid-state batteries
According to Mullen Automotive, its latest solid-state battery development and testing phase began in January when the EV automaker installed an energy-dense pack in one of its electric vans.
The initial tests measured the system compatibility between the pack of solid-state cells and the vehicle itself. Due to the higher energy density of the technology, Mullen shared it was able to increase the EV’s overall capacity from 42 kWh to 72 kWh using the same space in the platform.
On February 26, Mullen began road testing the solid-state powered van in Troy, Michigan, projecting a range increase from 110 miles to 190 miles (73% improvement). However, real-world testing saw even greater results as the Mullen ONE van delivered 205 miles on a single charge, equating to an 86% increase.
Electrek: Ford’s Tesla Supercharger adapter is now available to order for free
Last May, Ford was the first automaker to announceits plans to adopt Tesla’s charge connector, now known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). In addition to adding Tesla’s connector to its own EVs in 2025, Ford also said it would make a free adapter available to existing Ford EV owners.
Starting today, Ford says that eligible Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning owners can request their free CCS to NACS adapter. The first deliveries are slated to begin shipping in March. Ford is also starting to roll out a software update that unlocks Tesla Supercharger support for Mach-E and Lightning vehicles.
Only free until June 30.
Kottke: What To Do After You Finish the NY Times Crossword Puzzle
I love playing the NYT crossword, but I only recently discovered Rex Parker Does the NY Times Crossword Puzzle, a blog of daily puzzle reviews, full of spirit and bile. And although like Jason I’m a little put off by how negative the reviews can be – I don’t want the thing I’m so proud to have just finished be considered “toothless” or “dead in the water”!! — they’re also funny. So maybe it’s fine, or actually better. For instance, from his review of Tuesday’s puzzle: …
Electrek: Utility solar dethrones coal as the cheapest power source in Asia
Renewable energy costs in Asia last year were 13% cheaper than coal and are expected to be 32% cheaper by 2030, according to a new study.
According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest analysis of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, the LCOE from renewables reached a historic low in 2023. This is significant because it marks a shift toward making renewables increasingly competitive with coal, a mainstay in APAC’s energy mix. The driving force behind this trend is the substantial reduction in capital costs for renewable energy projects.
CBC: A tax on electric vehicles and a new property levy — here’s how the Alberta budget might impact you
You’ll pay more if you smoke, vape, or are looking to get behind the wheel of an EV.
Last Updated: 29.Feb.2024 18:31 EST
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I think Brian Mulroney led the Conservatives at their peak. I’m sorry he’s gone.
🔗 Articles: Fri 01.Mar.2024
NewsNation: HB 500: Kentucky bill could end workers’ lunch and rest breaks
Some workers in Kentucky may be poorer — and hungrier — at their jobs soon if a new bill passes the state’s House of Representatives.
The legislation, House Bill 500, would allow employers to stop offering their workers “reasonable” lunch and rest breaks, mandatory under current Kentucky law, and end the requirement that employees who work seven days in a row receive overtime pay.
Per the Kentucky Lantern, HB 500 also “(prevents) employers from being punished for not paying minimum wage or overtime pay when an employee is traveling to and from a workplace.”
Is this really what the people of Kentucky believe represents their interests?
Daring Fireball: Daring Fireball: Are Customers Returning Vision Pros in High Numbers? Seemingly Not.
Ming-Chi Kuo:
According to my survey of the repair/refurbishment production line, the current return rate for Vision Pro is less than 1%, with no anomalies.
Does Ming-Chi Kuo really know how many Vision Pros are being returned? I don’t know. Probably not. But two weeks after Vision Pro went on sale there was a bizarre rash of stories suggesting they were being returned in droves, probably driven by this Victoria Song piece for the Verge, with the — I must say — mildly jacktastic headline “Apple Fans Are Starting to Return Their Vision Pros”.
Wales Online: The Welsh seaside town where people go and never want to leave
Nestled between the hills and beaches, you’ll find Aberystwyth. The seaside town at the heart of the Ceredigion coastline is roughly as far from St Davids in Pembrokeshire as it is from Pwllheli in Gwynedd.
But the largest town in the county isn’t merely where north and south meet, it is a prominent destination itself. Known simply as ‘Aber’ by those who live there, here you’ll find a castle, a promenade, the National Library of Wales, the Arts Centre and more than 50 pubs. Not to mention one of Wales’ oldest universities.
Often referred to as the “culture capital” of Cymru, the town is one of the most visited places in Wales alongside the likes of Cardiff, Bannau Brycheiniog and Eryri. It boasts an array of independent shops, a vibrant culinary scene and architecture that dates back to the Middle Ages.
On my list to visit when we get to Wales.
SMH: Albanese government furious over Meta’s plan to pull out of Facebook news deal
The federal government has delivered a blistering rebuke to Facebook parent company Meta, with Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland accusing the tech giant of “a dereliction of its commitment to the sustainability of Australian news media” after it announced plans to cut off news content deals worth millions to local journalism.
Jones has signalled the government is prepared to use the news media bargaining code put in place by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg to force Meta back to the table to negotiate with Australian media companies for the millions of dollars in content they provide.
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The company announced the decision to scrap its news bookmark tab via a blog post, and said it will not strike new commercial deals with local publishers when they expire later this year.
“To ensure that we continue to invest in products and services that drive user engagement, we will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content in these countries and will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future,” the statement said.
CleanTechnica: Brown University Study Documents Links Between National & Local Offshore Wind Opponents
A month ago, we reported on how opponents to solar farms who appear to be local are actually supported by national organizations with one mission — protecting fossil fuels. You might ask yourself why anyone would want to protect fossil fuel companies when their activities have altered the Earth’s climate. They threaten to interrupt the flow of the Gulf Stream, melt the polar ice caps, and bring drought and flooding to many parts of the world. A new study from Brown University shows in graphic detail how similar linkages exist between opponents of offshore wind and captive fossil fuel apologists at the national level.
Yahoo Finance: Nuclear-powered rally: Soaring uranium prices ‘hit another inflection point’
Uranium hit US$91 per pound this week, inching towards the triple-digit prices of 16 years ago. Last year, the price climbed from US$48. Data firm UxC estimates utilities contracted more than 160 million pounds in 2023, the most since 2012.
“With the spot price of uranium recently reaching US$90 per pound, we believe we have hit another inflection point in this bull market,” John Ciampaglia, CEO of Sprott Asset Management, which runs the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (U-UN.TO), wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. “While 2023 was a momentous and rewarding year for nuclear energy, uranium and the miners, we remain bullish on the long-term prospects for the sector.”
The Spokesman-Review: Strange, unhappy life of Rodney Dangerfield
18.July.2004
“If a really good comedian isn’t depressed, something’s wrong,” says stand-up veteran Bob Saget, who was discovered by Dangerfield at the famed Comedy Store in Hollywood.
“When you’re a comedian,” says Saget, “you’re looking at the world from the outside in. You’re trying to be funny, but at the same time you’re really asking, ‘What’s it all mean?’ Rodney has always talked about the heaviness — about how heavy everything is. It’s funny when he says it, but the meaning behind it isn’t. The weight is on his shoulders. He feels it, and it’s torturous.”
CleanTechnica: US To Investigate “Security Concerns” Involving Chinese Electric Cars
We have been talking lately about the collective shudder that has gone through the community of American automobile manufacturers after it was learned that BYD is scouting locations for a new factory in Mexico. BYD built more battery electric cars than Tesla in the 4th quarter of last year to become the largest EV manufacturer in the world (Tesla built more in 2023 overall). Suddenly, everyone and their uncle is sounding alarms about the threat posed by Chinese electric cars.
But there is a problem. Cars built in Mexico can be imported to the US without paying any tariffs, thanks to the US–Mexico–Canada Agreementthat replaced NAFTA. The Alliance of American Manufacturers calls the prospect of cheap Chinese electric cars flooding across the border an “extinction level event” for US automakers and the hundreds of industries that rely on car manufacturing.
Globe: Andrew Coyne: Canada is no longer one of the richest nations on Earth. Country after country is passing us by
The growth crisis deepens. The latest figures from Statistics Canada confirm that Canada suffered yet another decline in per capita GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023: the fifth decline in the past six quarters, the worst sustained drop in more than 30 years. Per capita GDP, after adjusting for inflation, is now below where it was in the fourth quarter of 2014, _nine years _ ago.
Most news reports focused on the fact that the GDP itself (i.e. total output, not per capita) did not actually drop, but eked out a 0.2-per-cent gain, after the third quarter’s small decline — meaning Canada “dodged a recession.” But the problem with Canada’s economy is not cyclical, but secular; not one of utilization, but capacity. It is not so much that growth is temporarily below potential as that potential growth has slowed to a crawl.
Nor is this a short-run problem. It has been going on for decades. In the 1950s and 60s, Canada’s economy grew at a rate of more than 5 per cent annually, after inflation. By the 1970s that had slowed to roughly 4 per cent; to 3 per cent in the 1980s; to 2.4 per cent in the 1990s; to 2 per cent in the 2000s. Over the past 10 years, it has averaged just 1.7 per cent. Last year it was 1.1 per cent.
Phil Rosenthal World: Iceland
Phil’s Iceland Locations
- Vikinga Pylsur (hot dogs)
- Brauð & Co (pastries)
- Sægreifinn (The Seabaron) (langoustine soup, wolffish kabobs)
- Sumac Grill + Drinks (middle eastern, lamb)
- Silfra Snorkeling (2 tectonic plates!)
- Skál (scallops, pork belly, char)
- Le Kock (American sandwiches, donuts)
- Matur og Drykkur (Icelandic)
From the iconic food-travel series Somebody Feed Phil, season 7 (just released today). I can’t wait to visit Iceland again!
Last Updated: 01.Mar.2024 23:59 EST
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🔗 Articles: Sat 02.Mar.2024
The Guardian: ‘I was in despair’: how lending a phone led to life savings being stolen
“I was in a bit of an emotional state. My phone had gone and I was panicking,” she says. “I could not pass the telephone bank security as I didn’t know my passwords. Why would I? I never call them as I do all my banking on my mobile, and all the telephone banking passwords are completely different. They said I had to visit the branch.”
What she had forgotten was that lots of her sensitive financial information was in a Notes file on the stolen mobile. Although the pin for the lost Metro Bank debit card wasn’t listed in the file, it did list the pin for another card. The thief must have found the note, and assumed that like most people Souret used the same pin for all her bank cards. She did.
Trump’s Team is Celebrating the Supreme Court’s Immunity Decision
The former president is now highly unlikely to stand trial in the Justice Department’s election interference case before November.
The supreme court handed Donald Trump a massive victory on Wednesday by agreeing to rule on whether he is immune from prosecution for acts committed while he was president. The court will hear arguments on April 22 and won’t hand down a decision until June — which means it’s unlikely a trial in the Justice Department’s election interference case will commence before the election. If Trump wins the election, he’ll of course appoint an attorney general who will toss the case, regardless of how the Supreme Court rules this summer.
Make America tumultuous again!
Micromat: APFS support status
Likewise, while the Volume Rebuild can repair many drives with volume structures problems, a full rebuild that reorganizes the volume structures can only be implemented once Apple provides further documentation.
It is important to note as well that Techtool Pro uses a low-level API to test, repair, rebuild, and defragment Mac OS Extended volumes. No such API yet exists for APFS, and it is unclear if Apple will make one available.
Guardian: UK quits treaty that lets fossil fuel firms sue governments over climate policies
The UK is pulling out of a treaty that lets fossil fuel firms sue governments over their climate policies.
The UK will quit the controversial energy charter treaty (ECT) after efforts to align it with net zero emissions plans failed, the government announced late on Wednesday.
The treaty allows fossil fuel investors to sue states for lost profit expectations in an opaque corporate arbitration system set up to protect fossil fuel investors in the former Soviet economies in the 1990s.
The good news: neither Canada nor the US are signatories.
BBC: Why alcohol is so dangerous for young adults’ brains
How might these findings affect an adolescent’s choices – and their parents’ decisions around how and when to allow them to drink at home?
“Our message is delay as long as you can,” says Squeglia, “because your brain is still developing, and let your brain develop and be as healthy as it can before you start engaging in things like alcohol and other substance use.”
Several myths to overcome.
CleanTechnica: More Affordable Electric Cars Are Starting To Arrive In More Places Around The World
$25,000 seems to be the magical number when it comes to the upfront purchase price of EVs to get things going into overdrive in the EV world. Well, at least, that seems to be the general consensus on a lot of platforms. Which is why there has been a lot of excitement around a potential $25,000 compact car from Tesla. Before that particular vehicle becomes a reality, there is already some similar activity around the world, with several OEMs now ramping up deliveries of sub-$25,000 BEVs.
Last Updated: 02.Mar.2024 23:59 EST
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🔗 Articles: Sun 03.Mar.2024
Scientific American: Changing Car Culture Can Benefit Our Health and Our Planet
Anthropologist Daniel Miller has observedthat an alien visiting Earth might well suppose that four-wheeled creatures run the planet. These rulers, he notes, are “served by a host of slaves who walk on legs and spend their whole lives serving them.” He meant this as a joke, but the punch line comes at the expense of American car culture. In the U.S., the costs of car dependency keep growing, far above the $12,000-per-year average expense of owning a new one.
Coast-to-coast, the cars and trucks we drive cause about 16 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. They cause significant air pollution, worsening asthma and heart disease rates, and contribute to a nationwide epidemic of obesity. About 69 percent of car trips in the U.S. are two miles or less. Motor vehicle collisions are a leading cause of death in people ages one to 44, the most bitter part of the mayhem accompanying some six million reported accidents per year. Since 2010 the number of pedestrians killed by cars has increased 77 percent, to about 7,500 a year, a growing fraction of all traffic deaths.
MacRumors: Source: Apple to Announce New Products This Week
Apple plans to announce new products with press releases on its website this week, a proven source familiar with the matter told MacRumors. While the exact products that Apple plans to announce have not been disclosed, there are rumors about new iPads, Macs, and accessories. Apple is also preparing new Beats Solo 4 headphones.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman today reiterated that Apple is planning new iPad Pro, iPad Air, and MacBook Air models, along with new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil accessories for select iPads. Gurman believes that Apple is not planning to hold a traditional event to unveil these products, and instead plans to announce them “on its website” and with a “series of online videos and marketing campaigns” at some point in March or April.
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There have also been rumors about a new Apple TV and a HomePod with a screen launching in the first half of 2024, but it is unclear if these products are ready. There are also alleged CADs for a fourth-generation iPhone SE, but it is likewise unclear if that device is imminent, as 2025 has been a more widely rumored timeframe.
AppleInsider: Canon’s quest for VR content: 100-megapixel cameras for Apple Vision Pro
Executives from camera company Canon see a new business opportunity and potential market for a camera system that can create immersive video content for Apple’s Vision Pro. At present, however, none of their cameras can yet handle the resolution and refresh rate Apple’s headset requires.
Undecided with Dave Ferrell (YouTube): Why This Ultra Dense Battery Breakthrough Matters
21.Nov.2023
primarily on silicon anodes and producer Amprius
Last Updated: 03.Mar.2024 23:35 EST
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🔗 Articles: Mon 04.Mar.2024
“News that belongs to you.” — CBC
UPI: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission en route to International Space Station
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 successfully launched from the Florida coast on Sunday night with a final destination of the International Space Station.
RNZ News: Long-tailed bat the weight of a AAA battery believed to be NZ’s oldest
A bat of at least 26 years is officially New Zealand’s oldest known long-tailed bat/pekapeka.
Known as T7787, she was caught as part of a bat monitoring programme in Fiordland this month.
She was given a quick health check, then released to rejoin her colony at Walker Creek in the Eglinton Valley, where she has lived her entire life.
via Miraz
CBC: Everything you need to know about protecting yourself against measles
Individuals who’ve only received a single dose, as well as people who were infected with and recovered from measles before vaccines were available, should still get an updated dose, said Chagla.
“Two doses gives you optimal protection.”
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Despite the widespread availability of measles vaccines in developed countries, public health experts are tracking a growing number of cases in higher-income European countries such as the U.K., Austria and Belgium.
According to data published by the WHO, Europe saw a 30-fold increase in measles cases in 2023 compared to 2022. Europe had 941 cases in all of 2022, compared to more than 58,000 reported cases in 2023, according to the WHO.
Chagla is quick to point out that measles case rates in Canada are significantly lower than those in Europe and even the U.S.
MacWorld: Apple faces mammoth $2 billion EU fine over Spotify App Store complaint
Apple has been fined an astonishing 1.8 billion euros (roughly $1.95 billion) by EU regulators. The news was reported Monday by The New York Times and follows a five-year investigation into alleged anticompetitive behavior.
The decision relates to the dominance of Apple’s iOS App Store and the claim that it leverages this dominance to punish rivals or squeeze them out of the market. Back in 2019, Spotify complained about the Cupertino giant’s practices and Apple’s defensive PR campaignwasn’t enough to dissuade the EU from launching an investigation.
The dispute centers around the rules and fees that Apple levies on developers who sell apps for the iPhone and other devices. Spotify claimed the rules “purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience,” while the 30 percent commission on all app revenues was claimed to be excessive. (This fee has since been lowered in many cases.) Devs were also forced to use Apple’s own payment system, preventing them from avoiding the revenue cut, although this too is an area where Apple has begun to make small compromises since the investigation began.
CBC: Apple to pay up to $14.4M in iPhone throttling settlement approved by B.C. judge
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has approved a proposed maximum $14.4 million settlement from Apple to eligible members of a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of deliberately providing software updates that slowed its iPhone 6 and 7 models.
Apple denies the allegations. The company had earlier agreed to pay between $11.1 million and $14.4 million as part of the settlement. It says the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.
Depending on how many people apply for the settlement, claimants will receive between $17.50 and $150. They must provide a serial number for the impacted phone.
CultOfMac: New Belkin mount connects iPhone to Apple TV for video calls
Apple TV 4K became a more versatile living room device when tvOS 17 brought support for FaceTime. Although the video streamer comes with no camera of its own, it can use an iPhone’s, thanks to the magic of Apple’s Continuity Camera system. This allows the top-quality rear-facing cameras built into an iPhone to be used with a Mac or Apple TV.
And that’s where Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Apple TV 4K comes in. It clips to the top of a TV screen and holds the handset during video calls. An included mounting bracket promises added stability.
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And it isn’t only useful for FaceTime. Continuity Camera also supports Webex and Zoom, plus Apple Music Sing.
CultOfMac: M3 MacBook Air gets big specs boost with same design, battery life
The 2024 MacBook Air lineup launched Monday by Apple runs on the company’s M3 chip, bringing a significant performance boost to the laptop. It also benefits from Wi-Fi that’s up to twice as fast. Plus, the new MacBook Air can support two external displays. This all comes in the same thin design, with the same two display sizes and four colors.
Apple’s press release says that “with a faster and more efficient Neural Engine in M3, MacBook Air continues to be the world’s best consumer laptop for AI.”
The M3 MacBook Air starts at the same $1,099 price as the outgoing M2 model, which remains on sale starting at $999. You can order the new MacBook Air now from the Apple Online Storeand it will be available this Friday.
TorStar: Conservative Jamil Jivani wins Durham federal byelection
In the 2021 election, the Liberals received about 29 per cent of the vote. On Monday, the results midway through the evening saw their vote share hovering around 22 per cent.
In third place were the New Democrats, whose candidate was Chris Borgia, the president of the Durham Labour Council, who had been joined on the campaign trail over the weekend by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
The Green candidate for Monday’s byelection was Kevin MacKenzie. There was also an Independent candidate, Pranay Gunti. Adam Smith was on the ballot for the Rhinoceros party, Khalid Qureshi for the Centrist party and Grant Abraham for the United party.
TorStar: Guilbeault calls Saskatchewan premier ‘immoral’ for breaking carbon-price law
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says Ottawa has to take action against Saskatchewan for breaking the federal carbon-pricing law.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said last week his province would not submit the money it owed for the carbon price on natural gas as required on Feb. 29.
Moe is protesting Ottawa’s decision to exempt heating oil from the levy but not natural gas, which is used by eight in 10 households in Saskatchewan.
TorStar: Why has Canadian politics become so stupid?
Now let’s get into your question. I think we need to look at it at two levels. There’s obviously a degree of stupidification of politics in every part of the world that I pay any attention to right now. Was it the Belgians who literally could not form a government for month after month not that long ago? And was that a strange kind of maudlin envy I felt when they just went without? Democracy is in a pretty sorry state everywhere these days, and there’s a lot of explanations that we can point to: social media and deliberate disinformation campaigns, collapse of the legacy press, loss of institutional trust during and since the pandemic, and all the rest. That’s the big picture. In the specifically Canadian context, which does fit into all the above, my best guess at an answer for this dreadful state of affairs is that we have the two major federal parties — sorry, NDP — that are both calculating that their short-term political interests are best served by amping up the stupid. The Tories need people to stay as angry as they are now. The Liberals need people to get afraid of how well the CPC is polling so that they’ll flock back to Trudeau. Both of these persuasion campaigns are going to unfold over social media, a place where even smart people sound like raving lunatics. I think this is why things are as bad as they are now. And why they’ll get worse as the vote gets closer.
Good article.
Last Updated: 04.Mar.2024 23:57 EST
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