New posts from the.micro.blog

🔗 Articles: Tuesday 23.Apr.2024

WashPo: Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Yale, NYU as campus protests spread

Columbia University canceled in-person classes, police arrested dozens of protesters at Yale and New York universities, and pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up encampments at other colleges Monday as tensions flared again on campuses across the country over the Israel-Gaza war.

Students at many schools are escalating protests over the war, living in tents on campus, disrupting university events, and risking and provoking arrest, leading to a growing sense of chaos and crackdown at colleges in the waning days of the academic year. College leaders are facing intense scrutiny over whether they are doing enough to protect students, faculty and staff against alleged antisemitism and other bias since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and resulting war — even as they confront scathing criticism from those who say they’re denying students’ right to speak out and censoring political protests.

WashPo: Brown University will require SAT scores again

The Ivy League school will continue to offer early decision and legacy preferences in admissions.

WashPo: Brown University will require SAT scores again

Brown University will again require that applicants submit standardized-test scores, university officials announced Tuesday, making it the third Ivy League school to reinstate that pre-pandemic admission norm in recent weeks.

The school will continue to give an advantage to applicants whose parents attended or work at Brown, and will still allow students to apply early, if they choose.

Like officials at Yale University and Dartmouth College, both of which recently announced they would resume requiring standardized tests from applicants, officials at Brown said research indicated that SAT and ACT scores are highly predictive of students’ academic performance in college. Brown Provost Francis J. Doyle III, who co-chaired a committee studying admissions policies, said in an interview Tuesday that removing the testing requirement made it more difficult for admissions officers to assess whether Brown hopefuls were likely to thrive at the school. He said reinstating the requirement will make the admissions office more “effective.”

Australian prime minister labels Elon Musk ‘an arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law’

Australia’s prime minister has labelled X’s owner, Elon Musk, an “arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law” as the rift deepens between Australia and the tech platform over the removal of videos of a violent stabbing in a Sydney church.

On Monday evening in an urgent last-minute federal court hearing, the court ordered a two-day injunction against X to hide posts globally containing the footage of the alleged stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on 15 April. The eSafety commissioner had previously directed X to remove the posts, but X had only blocked them from access in Australia pending a legal challenge.

⋮

The United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet posted two versions of the video on both X and Facebook on Monday. One video was posted on its own, while the other was embedded within his commentary about the attack.

iPhone in Canada: Apple iPhone Sales in China Slumped 19% During Q1 2024

Apple saw iPhone sales in China drop 19.1% year-over-year during the first quarter of 2024, according to data from market tracker Counterpoint Research.

The Chinese smartphone market as a whole rebounded, growing 1.9% year-over-year and 4.6% quarter-over-quarter. “Q1 2024 was the most competitive quarter ever, with only 3% points separating the top six players in terms of market share,” said Counterpoint Senior Analyst Mengmeng Zhang.

Verge: Amazon makes checking for its AI watermarks available for all Bedrock users.

People using Amazon’s AI library can check if an image was made with Amazon’s Titan Image Generator, which is now publicly available. Right now, the platform will only check Amazon’s own watermarks and not other developers.

9to5Mac: Protect against iPhone password reset attacks: How-to

One of the latest attacks on iPhone sees malicious parties abuse the Apple ID password reset system to inundate users with iOS prompts to take over their accounts. Here’s how you can protect against iPhone password reset attacks (often called “MFA bombing”).

We’ve recently heard about Apple users being targeted with MFA bombing (also called MFA fatigue or push bombing). It’s not a new attack, but it can be a convincing scam as it pushes official iOS password reset prompts to victims.

As detailed by Krebs on Security (via Parth Patel), attackers abusing this vulnerability appear to be doing so through an Apple user’s phone number which can bomb your iPhone and other Apple devices with 100+ MFA (multi-factor authentication) system prompts to reset your Apple ID password.

Ars Technica: Apple’s next product event happens on May 7, and it’s probably iPads

Reports point to a new OLED iPad Pro with M3 and a big-screened iPad Air.

⋮

The new iPads would be Apple’s first in well over a year–the company didn’t announce a single new tablet through the entirety of 2023, the first year without an iPad since the original tablet was announced back in 2010.

Ars Technica: NASA officially greenlights $3.35 billion mission to Saturn’s moon Titan

NASA has formally approved the robotic Dragonfly mission for full development, committing to a revolutionary project to explore Saturn’s largest moon with a quadcopter drone.

Ars Technica: After 48 years, Zilog is killing the classic standalone Z80 microprocessor chip

Last week, chip manufacturer Zilog announced that after 48 years on the market, its line of standalone DIP (dual inline package) Z80 CPUs is coming to an end, ceasing sales on June 14, 2024. The 8-bit Z80 architecture debuted in 1976 and powered a small-business-PC revolution in conjunction with CP/M, also serving as the heart of the Nintendo Game Boy, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the Radio Shack TRS-80, the Pac-Man arcade game, and the TI-83 graphing calculator in various forms.

⋮

Zilog will continue to manufacture the eZ80 microcontroller family, which was introduced in 2001 as a faster version of the Z80 series and comes in different physical package configurations (pin layouts).

CNN: How Johnson came to embrace Ukraine aid and defy his right flank

On Tuesday, Johnson sat in his office as members streamed in to voice their complaints and level their demands. By nighttime, he was wrestling how to proceed. Feeling the weight of his future and knowing history was watching him, Johnson, a devout Christian, turned to prayer.

“He was torn between trying to save his job and do the right thing,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, a top Ukraine advocate who was with Johnson the night before the legislation was released, told CNN. “He prayed over it.”

Well, that and an important briefing…

And more recently, Johnson received a key intelligence briefing from CIA Director Bill Burns, who painted a picture of the dire situation on the battlefield in Ukraine and the global consequences of inaction, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. The briefing left a lasting impression, and Johnson became increasingly convinced the fate of Western democracy was on his shoulders, sources close to him said.

WashPo: Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem.

Free link

In sunny California, solar panels are everywhere. They sit in dry, desert landscapes in the Central Valley and are scattered over rooftops in Los Angeles’s urban center. By last count, the state had nearly 47 gigawatts of solar power installed — enough to power 13.9 million homes and provide over a quarter of the Golden State’s electricity.

But now, the state and its grid operator are grappling with a strange reality: There is so much solar on the grid that, on sunny spring days when there’s not as much demand, electricity prices go negative. Gigawatts of solar are “curtailed” — essentially, thrown away.

A better problem to have than climate change!

Kottke: Cool Art: Naja Tepe’s Pottery

In the spirit of recommending things I truly love, I wanted to highlight the pottery of Northern California artist Naja Tepe. I’ve ordered from her twice now, and her work is fabulous. I love her strawberry-themed items, but the crescent moon on the plate in her most recent Instagram post (upper right in the composite above) made me want to have everything it appears on, too. Great for gifts. I don’t think my mom reads this site, so I will therefore reveal that I got her a Naja Tepe item for her birthday this year.

Last Updated: 23.Apr.2024 22:54 EDT

Monday’s articles

Follow along as new links are added to today’s list

2024-04-24

🔗 Articles: Wednesday 24.Apr.2024

The New Yorker: Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation

How bots, mercenaries, and table scalpers have turned the restaurant reservation system inside out.

⋮

I thought I just had bad luck, until a conversation with Resy’s C.E.O., Pablo Rivero, clarified things. Over dinner at Txikito, a buzzy Basque restaurant in Chelsea, he explained that I would likely always be near the bottom of the Notify queue. After American Express acquired Resy, in 2019, anyone with a fancy Amex card — Centurion, Platinum, Reserve, or Aspire — has an advantage. If you have one of these cards (Centurion: ten-thousand-dollar initiation fee, five thousand dollars per year), Rivero said, “You will get a Resy notification before other people do.” (He also said, somewhat puzzlingly, “What we are trying to do is, honestly, democratize dining a bit more.”)

Some restaurants sort their virtual waiting lists themselves, without help from Amex. These managers cherry-pick V.I.P.s and regulars from their Notify queues. SevenRooms, Resy’s newest competitor, has a tool that has largely automated that process: an algorithm picks which diners get priority push notifications about late openings. The criteria include how often a diner visits, how big his or her tabs are, how much wine and dessert are ordered, and tip size.

TorStar: Blame, regret in collapse of York’s ‘biggest mafia takedown’

Defence lawyers argued the charges should be stayed due to police misconduct. For police, the decision to abandon the prosecution caused “heartache.”

TorStar: ‘Uptick’ in cottage listings expected on capital gains rules

A couple who inherited their waterfront property from parents in the early 1980s when the average cost of a cottage was around $75,000, could have a property with a fair market value today of over $1,000,000, according to Royal LePage’s 2024 spring recreational property report. That would represent a $925,000 capital gain upon disposition of the cottage in a sale or even by gifting the cottage to the kids, resulting in a total taxable income of $533,475. Taxed at the higher rate, the change could add an extra $70,000 to an inheritor’s tax bill.

⋮

“We’ll definitely see an uptick of listings,” he said. “Whether that equates to sales is the bigger question. There’s double the amount of inventory in Ontario now compared to a year ago and they’re spending double the amount of time on the market.”

Globe: Ontario to permanently raise speed limit on 10 sections of highways across province

The increased speed limits will cover 860 kilometres, or about 36 per cent, of Ontario’s highways.

Globe: Welsh reversal of lower speed limits marks latest U-turn on U.K. green policies

Last week the Scottish government abandoned its flagship target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent by 2030, citing budgetary pressures. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also scrapped or delayed several green pledges, including the phasing out of gasoline-powered cars, out of concern the measures would hit taxpayers’ pocketbooks too hard. And London Mayor Sadiq Khan has faced growing discontent over the city’s extension of its ultralow emission zone, which charges drivers £12.50 a day ($21.13) if their car fails to meet emission standards.

The Welsh government announced the lower speed limit last September with great fanfare.

Months of testing and a host of studies showed that a 20 mph limit would reduce the number of accidents by 40 per cent annually and save as many as 10 lives a year. It would also improve air quality because driving dynamics at lower speeds make cars more efficient.

⋮

The turnaround has not been universally welcomed. Cardiff Cycle City, which promotes more bike lanes, said it was alarmed by Mr. Skates’s announcement. “Lowering the speed of motor vehicles in our communities is a fundamentally good thing to do. It makes sense environmentally and from a road safety perspective,” the group said in a statement. “It appears that Mr. Skates has succumbed to pressure from a tiny but vocal political minority.”

Globe: Letters for April 24: New Prescription

New Prescription

The provision of health care in Canada is a provincial responsibility.

In Ontario, for example, it is because of the health care policies of successive governments that there is a major shortage of family physicians and nurses and a low level of care for the elderly; that among regions of countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Ontario has one of the lowest number of hospital beds per capita and one of the lowest financing levels of health care.

Yes, the Canada Health Act should be reviewed and renewed. That, however, will require tough negotiating with pharmaceutical and health insurance corporations, as well as the Canadian Medical Association and Canadian Dental Association, whose priorities, I believe, are in maintaining wealth and power.

The problems are clear to me. Aligning national, provincial and sectoral interests and responsibilities will be difficult and drawn out, but we should make a start.

**Mervyn Russell **Oakville, Ont.

CBC: Poilievre visits convoy camp, claims Trudeau is lying about ‘everything’

In video filmed by the protesters, who have been living at the site for three weeks, Poilievre tells the group to “keep it up” and calls their protest “a good, old-fashioned Canadian tax revolt.”

“Everyone hates the tax because everyone’s been screwed over,” Poilievre is heard saying in the video, which shows protesters with “Axe the tax” and “F–k Trudeau “ signs and flags. A car with ‘Make Canada Great Again’ scrawled on the rear window is seen parked at the site.

“People believed his lies. Everything he said was bullshit, from top to bottom.”

Yes, very prime ministerial.

Tom’s Guide: My favorite show of the year is No.1 on Netflix — and it’s 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

It’s been a strong year for new TV shows so far with the likes of Fallout, Shogun and Mr. & Mrs. Smith all earning well-deserved critical acclaim and plenty of audience attention. But Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” has surpassed them all to become my favorite show of 2024 yet. That’s a testament to the quality of this dark thriller.

⋮

Not only is Baby Reindeer a hit with viewers, but critics are raving about this one too. The Show currently holds a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes with the site’s “critics consensus” stating, “Baby Reindeercan be a punishing watch but richly rewards viewers with its emotional complexity and excellent performances.”

NYT: Inside the Crisis at NPR

Listeners are tuning out. Sponsorship revenue has dipped. A diversity push has generated internal turmoil. Can America’s public radio network turn things around?

Amazon: Texfake: An Account of the Theft and Forgery of Early Texas Printed Documents

Texfake is the result of three years of investigation into the scandal surrounding the 1988 discovery of forged copies of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The New York Times, Texas Monthly, and The New Yorker all carried articles on the affair, but this is the definitive account of the history and impact of the Texas forger and his wares.

Austin rare book dealer Taylor lays out the facts concerning the forgeries: who made them; when and how they were made; how they were discovered; and whether or not the dealers involved know what they were selling. He also reveals for the first time the devastating impact of the looting of Texas libraries by thieves in the 1960s.

WheresYourEd.at: The Man Who Killed Google Search

A day later, Gomes emailed Fox and Thakur an email he intended to send to Raghavan. He led by saying he was “annoyed both personally and on behalf of the search team.” in a long email, he explained how one might increase engagement with Google Search, but specifically added that they could “increase queries quite easily in the short term in user negative ways,” like turning off spell correction, turning off ranking improvements, or placing refinements — effectively labels — all over the page, adding that it was “possible that there are trade offs here between different kinds of user negativity caused by engagement hacking,” and that he was “deeply deeply uncomfortable with this.” He also added that this was the reason he didn’t believe that queries were a good metric to measure search and that the best defense about the weakness of queries was to create “compelling user experiences that make users want to come back.”

⋮

Five months later, a little over a year after the Code Yellow debacle, Google would make Prabhakar Raghavan the head of Google Search, with Jerry Dischler taking his place as head of ads. After nearly 20 years of building Google Search, Gomes would be relegated to SVP of Education at Google. Gomes, who was a critical part of the original team that made Google Search work, Google would make Prabhakar Raghavan the head of Google Search, was chased out by a growth-hungry managerial types led by Prabhakar Raghavan, a management consultant wearing an engineer costume.

A quick note: I used “management consultant” there as a pejorative. While he exhibits all the same bean-counting, morally-unguided behaviors of a management consultant, from what I can tell Raghavan has never actually worked in that particular sector of the economy.

Last Updated: 24.Apr.2024 23:59 EDT

Tuesday’s articles

Follow along as new links are added to today’s list

2024-04-25

🔗 Articles: Thursday 25.Apr.2024

Globe: Andrew Coyne: What might a serious growth agenda look like? More labour, more capital, and more incentive to use both wisely

The good news about the recent budget is that it at least talks about per capita GDP, however briefly. The appalling performance of Canada’s economy on this crucial measure has been the subject of growing alarm outside of government. Yet it was not considered worth so much as a mention in the fall economic statement.

Neither did it come up in Budget 2023. Nor the 2022 fall economic statement. Budget 2022 gave it a chart, mostly as an advertisement for the government’s policies on child-care subsidies and the “transition to a low-carbon economy,” then dropped it. Even in Budget 2024, it is brought up largely to dismiss it as a concern. A “strong, temporary rise in immigration,” it explains, has “weighed on average income and productivity in the short term.”

But this, it seems, is no more than a statistical illusion.

New Republic: Trump Brutally Mocks Latest “Gutless” Republican to Endorse Him

In a late-night Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump gleefully posted news of Barr’s endorsement, with a jab thrown in:

“Wow! Former A.G. Bill Barr, who let a lot of great people down by not investigating Voter Fraud in our Country, has just Endorsed me for President despite the fact that I called him “Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy” (New York Post!),” Trump wrote. “Based on the fact that I greatly appreciate his wholehearted Endorsement, I am removing the word ‘Lethargic’ from my statement. Thank you Bill. MAGA2024!”

BlogTO: Fans think rich people killed the vibe at Toronto Maple Leafs’ playoff game

Attending a Toronto Maple Leafs playoff game is a costly endeavour, and the lower bowl of Scotiabank Arena is reserved for the ultra-privileged willing to shell out thousands for the best seats in the house.

Unfortunately, wealth and rowdiness don’t have too much overlap, and rich ticketholders are once again being slammed for deadening the vibe during a big Leafs home game.

BlogTO: Here’s how much it costs to see a Leafs vs Bruins playoff game in Toronto

As of Friday morning, ticket prices available for the series’ first home game next Wednesday range from $222.25 for an obstructed standing-room-only view to seats re-selling for north of $3,000 in the lower bowl.

The most expensive single tickets listed at their original price are first-row seats in sections 107 and 109, selling for just over $1,800 with taxes and fees included.

Anyone hoping to catch the action in person will have to fork over some big bucks, though, as tickets are being sold at a premium — some far higher than originally priced thanks to the all-too-familiar work of Ticketmaster resellers driving prices through the stratosphere.

NowToronto: ‘Not a single lie was told,’ Japanese resident in Canada shares honest review about living here, and Canadians seem to agree

A Japanese resident has shared a brutal and honest Q&A about his experience living in Canada and many Canadians are agreeing with their point of view.

Living in Canada FAQ

Is it okay if I can’t speak English?
Absolutely not. You better learn native-level English.

Will I find a job?
No. Even Canadians can’t find jobs.

Is it safe?
Except for certain areas, it’s fine. But it’s important to walk with confidence.

Is it expensive?
1.5 times Japan. Add in the exchange rate and it’s chaos.

Is there a Japanese community?
Yes, but avoid at all costs.

Are Canadians friendly?
On the surface they seem friendly, but inside it’s a big ball of complaints and racism

What should I bring from Japan?
Japanese salt.

Is there any racism?
I can feel it in the air and it’s terrifying. 90% of what Canadians tell you is bullshit.

What is the most important thing I need to work in Canada?

Mental strength

Money

English

Skills

What is the best thing about going to Canada?
Realizing how great Japan is.

CBC: Bob Cole, the play-by-play voice of countless NHL games, dies at 90

Cole’s trademark call — “Oh, baby!” — was one of many signposts he brought to play-by-play commentaries that earned him the love of fans and even players themselves.

⋮

Cole, who said he still got goosebumps in his mid-80s when he stepped into an arena broadcasting booth, called one of the most famous plays in Canadian sports history: Paul Henderson’s Summit Series goal in 1972, against the Soviet Union.

⋮

During his lengthy broadcasting career, he anchored the news for Here & Now, CBC’s flagship TV news program in Newfoundland and Labrador, and was also quiz master on CBC’s Reach for the Top in Newfoundland and Labrador.

His voice appeared outside sports, too. Actor and producer Allan Hawco asked Cole to voice the recap intro heard at the beginning of most episodes of the series Republic of Doyle.

CBC: Makeshift slaughterhouse in a residential garage points to growing concerns about illicit meat sales

Inside a garage in an established Edmonton neighbourhood, animals were being slaughtered and the meat was advertised for sale to consumers, a CBC News investigation has learned.

Police entered the rented garage in the quiet residential Woodcroft community in February 2023. Images shared with CBC News show piles of goat carcasses, tubs of blood and the remains of a skinned baby goat on a makeshift slaughter table.

Neighbour John Bos told CBC News that the sounds of bleating goats first alerted him to unusual activity in the garage.

⋮

“We have all the laws we need on the books,” LeMay said.

“We need investment in enforcement. We need boots on the ground … on the cattle rustling side and on the meat processing side, to enforce those laws.”

CBC: Ontario MPP defies order to remove keffiyeh at Queen’s Park

An Ontario legislator has refused to remove her keffiyeh at Queen’s Park and was subsequently banned from returning to the chamber for the rest of the day on Thursday.

Speaker Ted Arnott ordered independent member Sarah Jama to leave the chamber, but she refused.

Legislative security did not physically remove her from question period, so she remained.

How can this be seen as racist? Pro-Palestinian is not the same as antisemitic. People are legitimately complaining about the bombing of civilians. It is not an endorsement of Hamas’ war crimes.

Arnott banned the keffiyeh after deciding it was being worn to make a political statement, contrary to the rules of the assembly.

Heaven forbid someone make a political statement in a political assembly.

CBC: Documentary Channel: My adventures with assholes

When I set out to make Assholes: A Theory, a film for the documentary Channel, after reading Aaron James’ book of the same name, I had no idea where it would take me. I knew it was going to be difficult to explain: “Hey, I’m making a film about assholes. Would you like to be in it?” This is the magic of the documentary impulse that drives me to new frontiers.

If someone had told me I would be having a conversation about assholes with the governor general of New Zealand, Dame Patsy Reddy, and her husband, Sir David Gascoigne, or that I would be sitting beside comedic legend John Cleese as he burst into laughter at the North American premiere of Assholes: A Theory, I would have said, “You’re out of your mind!”

NewsNation: Kansas moms killings: Fifth person arrested and charged with murder

Tifany Adams, 54; her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43; Cora Twombly, 44; and her husband Cole Twombly, 50, have each been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree in relation to the killing of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39.

OSBI said that “based on the evidence and information gathered from the case,” Paul Grice, 31, was arrested and booked into the Texas County Jail with the same charges as the other four previously arrested.

⋮

According to the affidavit of probable cause for Grice’s arrest warrant, he admitted he was part of the planning, killing and burying of Butler and Kelley.

Atlantic: What If Mike Johnson Is Actually Good at This?

What if Mike Johnson is actually good at this?

CBC: Nunavut government wants to open a protected area in the High Arctic to tourism

Tuvaijuittuq Marine Protected Area off coast of Ellesmere Island considered the last ice area.

CBC: Canadian who died in Cuba was mistakenly buried in Russia, family says

Faraj Allah Jarjour’s family received body of Russian man after death in Varadero.

Apple Insider: The Worst of WWDC - Missteps on the way to success

It’s not often that an entire operating system is considered disappointing. Still, iOS 11 was not a normal update, and its release in 2017 occurred during an abnormal period at Apple marked by challenges and changes.

In 2017, Apple admitted what iPhone users had already noticed. A previous iOS update deliberately slowed down some older models to prevent issues with their aging internal batteries.

⋮

Almost seven years after Google Maps was released, Apple announced its own Maps app at WWDC 2012. The plan was to replace Google Maps on the iPhone, but right out of the gate, Maps was a disaster.

⋮

iOS 8 ushered in health and fitness tracking, but some things didn’t work out as planned. Basic features like step measurement and flight climbed often failed to be recorded. Communication of health data between apps, one of the main reasons Apple developed HomeKit, often didn’t work. Third-party health apps had problems sharing data with Apple’s Health app.

⋮

Memoji and Anamoji

⋮

[Since 2011,] a near-comical lack of comprehension has … hampered Siri’s amazing potential. Siri’s inability to process commands and its lack of features compared to other smart assistants has drawn criticism, and Siri’s shortcomings have been the subject of countless jokes.

⋮

Many find that Siri has lost features and functionality over time, with no way for users to keep track of these changes.

ScienceAlert: NASA’s Advanced Solar Sail Has Successfully Deployed in Space

On Tuesday a RocketLab Electron rocket launched NASA’s new Advanced Composite Solar Sail System. It aims to test the deployment of large solar sails in low-earth orbit and on Wednesday, NASA confirmed they had successfully deployed a 9 metre sail.

CBC (CP): Alberta to pay nurse practitioners up to 80 per cent of what family doctors make

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said nurses eligible for the payment plan must commit to caring for 900 patients and operate their clinics on weekends, evenings and holidays. They also must accept walk-ins.

She said compensation will depend on how many patients are being served, with pay being higher for nurses with more patients.

“Roughly 80 per cent of what a physician can do is roughly what a nurse practitioner will be doing,” LaGrange said.

Rolling Stone: Team Trump Is Ready to Lose the Supreme Court Immunity Case. They’re Celebrating.

Three people with direct knowledge of the matter tell Rolling Stone that many of the former president’s lawyers and political advisers have already accepted that the justices will likely rule against him, and reject his claims to expansive presidential immunity in perpetuity. Bringing the case before the court – after a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., shut down their arguments on executive power – was a delaying tactic designed to push Trump’s criminal election subversion trial past Election Day this fall. The strategy paid off so much more than MAGAworld anticipated.

“We already pulled off the heist,” says a source close to Trump, noting it doesn’t matter to them what the Supreme Court decides now.

via Apple News+

Globe: Canadian dividend sectors ‘overdue for a sharp reversal to the upside,’ says BMO chief investment strategist

BMO chief investment strategist Brian Belski believes a rally is due in domestic dividend stocks.

“Against the backdrop of rising long-term interest rates year to date, ALL the Canadian yield-heavy sectors have underperformed. However, from our perspective each of these areas are excessively oversold and are extremely overdue for a sharp reversal to the upside once interest rate concerns stabilize. While we do subscribe to the “higher-for-longer” interest rate narrative, our work shows that these sectors can post solid absolute returns and, in some cases, even outperform when long-term interest rates are in a range. Indeed, the Real Estate sector typically posts its best absolute and relative performance when interest rates are range bound … While the Communication Services sector is interest rate sensitive, we believe the sector should be doing much better on an absolute basis given we are likely at or near peak long-term interest rates. Utilities is historically the most correlated with interest rates, but typically sees a clear inflection of performance once long-term interest rates peak and is generally a Market Perform in range-bound rate environments. Lastly, Canadian banks have become too interest rate sensitive in our view … the sector can outperform in most interest rate environments and typically posts its best absolute performance when interest rates are range bound or rising gradually”

⋮

TD Cowen analyst Mario Mendonca thinks domestic bank stocks have roughly 20 per cent upside if they can hit their return on equity (ROE) target. The catch is that he doesn’t believe they will.

“The group delivered an adjusted ROE of 13.8% in 2023, 610bps below the 5-year average before the GFC, reflecting a sharp decline in NIM [net interest margins] and much lower leverage. The sharp decline in leverage was a direct result of much higher capital requirements related to the introduction of Basel III and all its iterations. Without a sharp increase in NIM, we do not believe medium-term ROE guidance is achievable. We believe that if the ROE makes it back to medium-term guidance it will happen through a combination of a) 10-20bps increase in NIM, b) a recovery in capital markets revenue (CMRR), and c) slightly better efficiency ratios. There are a number of reasons why industry NIM is down 75bps over the last 20+ years, but we believe the most important (and most likely to reverse) is the sharp decline in 5-year bond yield.”

Last Updated: 25.Apr.2024 23:58 EDT

Wednesday’s articles

Follow along as new links are added to today’s list

2024-04-26

🔗 Articles: Friday 26.Apr.2024

AppleInsider: Surgeons embrace Apple Vision Pro for advanced medical procedures

Following examples in the US of the Apple Vision Pro being used in surgeries, a new example has come to light from Brazil. The headset was used in a shoulder arthroscopy procedure dealing with a rupture of the rotator cuff.

The operation, reported on by MacMagazine, was performed in Jaragu do Sul in Santo Domingo. Dr. Bruno Gobbato and his team typically peform this type of operation looking at a screen anyway, using a camera inserted into the injured area.

⋮

He has posted a video of the surgery on YouTube, with the procedure highly sped-up to demonstrate the perspective of a surgeon using the Apple Vision Pro. Gobbato was able to clearly see his notes, the patient’s x-rays, and the live camera all at the same time.

BBC: The ex-flight attendant who became the first female boss of Japan Airlines

When Mitsuko Tottori was named as the new boss of Japan Airlines (JAL) in January, it sent a shockwave across the country’s corporate sector.

Not only was Ms Tottori the carrier’s first female boss, she had also started her career as a member of cabin crew.

The headlines ranged from “first woman” and “first former flight attendant” to “unusual” and “no way!”

Federal government and Ontario announce $15-billion Honda EV deal

25.April.2024

Honda Motor Co. HMC-N has announced a landmark $15-billion deal to make electric vehicles and their batteries in Ontario, backed by up to $5-billion in federal and provincial subsidies.

Touted by the two governments as the largest single investment in the history of Canada’s auto sector, the deal also makes Ontario the epicentre for the Japanese automaker’s North American rollout of EVs.

The bulk of Honda’s investment will be at its existing auto-manufacturing site in Alliston, Ont. That will include a vehicle-assembly facility there, scheduled to open in 2028 and eventually have the capacity to build 240,000 vehicles annually, and a new EV battery factory.

BBC: Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction overturned in New York

25.April.2024

The New York Court of Appeals said prosecutors in the pivotal #MeToo case called witnesses whose accusations were not part of the charges against him.

The court said that meant he was unfairly tried for past behaviour, and ordered a new trial.

Weinstein, 72, remains in prison. He was separately convicted of rape in LA.

BBC: Japan comes face to face with its own space junk

A satellite operated by Japanese company Astroscale has chased down a 15 year-old piece of space junk and taken an up-close image of it.

The object is a discarded rocket segment that’s about 11m by 4m (36ft by 15ft), with a mass of three tonnes.

It’s the first time anyone has managed to rendezvous with so big a piece of space debris.

Astroscale is developing a business that would offer to remove others’ redundant hardware from orbit.

BBC: Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space

23.Apr.2024

The US space agency says its Voyager-1 probe is once again sending usable information back to Earth after months of spouting gibberish.

BBC: There’s no need to shower every day – here’s why

Is washing ourselves very frequently necessary? Some experts believe that everyday showering is based more on a ‘social contract’ than actual need.

A few years ago, I stopped taking daily showers. Pandemic-induced work from home, moving in with a partner who showered less than me and pure, middle-age laziness pushed me to abandon an almost three-decades-long habit: So long as I don’t exercise, I now shower only around three times a week. Some of my friends shower as little or even less – a few just once a week in winter, occasionally because of skin problems or a dislike of having wet hair – but others fail to align with me, or are even icked out. “I can’t wake up properly without my morning shower,” they say. “Every day has to start with a shower and a cup of tea.” “There’s no way I’ll lay in my bed [unshowered] after commuting in London.” “Three times a week? Yuck.”

BBC: How a traditional craft became a Gen-Z statement

Embroidery is enjoying a resurgence as a new generation taps into its potential – both for upcycling clothes and for making an empowering declaration. Here’s our DIY guide to embroidering your own clothes.

Technology Review: How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets

When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.

Last Updated: 26.Apr.2024 14:59 EDT

Thursday’s articles

Follow along as new links are added to today’s list

2024-04-27

🔗 Articles: Saturday 27.Apr.2024

Guardian: ‘In the US they think we’re communists!’ The 70,000 workers showing the world another way to earn a living

The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the globe’s largest industrial co-operative, with workers paying for the right to share in its profits – and its losses. In return for giving more to their employer, they expect more back.

CleanTechnica: 43% Plugin Vehicle Market Share In China — March 2024 Sales Report

Plugin vehicles are all the rage in the Chinese auto market, with plugins scoring 743,000 sales (in a 1.7-million-unit overall market). That’s up 29% year over year (YoY).

Looking deeper at the numbers, BEVs were up 16%, while PHEVs did even better, jumping 62% in March. Breaking down plugin sales by powertrain, BEVs had 64% of sales, below this year’s average of 67%, proving the rising popularity of plugin hybrids in this market.

Guardian: Sanders hits back at Netanyahu: ‘It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable’

US senator says Israeli prime minister using antisemitism to distract attention from ‘extremist and racist government’ policies.

⋮

“No Mr Netanyahu, it is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that, in a little over six months, your extremist government has killed over 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 78,000, 70% of whom are women and children,” Sanders said.

Guardian: Conservatives condemn Kristi Noem for ‘twisted’ admission of killing dog

The Guardian revealed Noem’s story, which is contained in a book out next month. In No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, Noem describes her frustrations with Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer who Noem says ruined a pheasant hunt and killed a neighbouring family’s chickens.

“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, saying Cricket was “untrainable … dangerous” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.

“At that moment,” Noem says, “I realised I had to put her down.”

⋮

Rachel Bade, senior Washington correspondent for Politico, said: “Not sure who advised Kristi Noem that it was a good idea to boast about killing her 14-month-old puppy but I’m willing to bet this would be a big problem for her if she [was] chosen for VP. Makes [2012 presidential nominee Mitt] Romney’s dog-on-the-car-roof story look quaint.”

Guardian: Teenager finds ‘holy grail’ Lego octopus from 1997 spill off Cornwall coast

The octopus is one of nearly 5m Lego pieces that fell into the sea in 1997 when a storm hit a cargo ship 20 miles off Land’s End, Cornwall. While 352,000 pairs of flippers, 97,500 scuba tanks, and 92,400 swords went overboard, the octopuses are considered the most prized finds as only 4,200 were onboard.

Liutauras Cemolonskas has collected 789 pieces of the collection over the past two years, alongside numerous fossils.

Guardian: ‘Dismissing global warming? That was a joke’: Jeremy Clarkson on fury, farming and why he’s a changed man

The former Top Gear presenter claims his controversialist persona was just a caricature, and he’s really a reformed character living the good life. But do old habits die hard?

Guardian: Like father, like son? The complex factors that shape a parent’s influence on their child | Parents and parenting

The eternal mystery of how much we are shaped by our parents – or how much we shape our children – was stirred again last week with the publication of a study that suggests that we are less like our parents than we had previously thought.

Led by René Mõttus of Edinburgh University’s department of psychology, the study looked at more than 1,000 pairs of relatives to establish how likely children are to inherit what psychologists call the “big five” or “Ocean” personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

Guardian: Baltimore teacher accused of using AI to create fake, racist recording of principal

A high school athletics director suspected of using artificial intelligence to create a fake, racist recording of a principal in Baltimore has been arrested by police.

Police arrested 31-year-old Dazhon Darien of Pikesville high school on Thursday after an investigation into an AI-generated recording which featured the duplicated voice of the school’s principal, Eric Eiswert. Officers allege that Eiswert was investigating Darien in connection with the potential mishandling of school funds when the latter man purportedly created the recording.

Reuters: Exclusive: Some US officials say in internal memo Israel may be violating international law in Gaza

A joint submission from four bureaus - Democracy Human Rights & Labor; Population, Refugees and Migration; Global Criminal Justice and International Organization Affairs – raised “serious concern over non-compliance” with international humanitarian law during Israel’s prosecution of the Gaza war.

The assessment from the four bureaus said Israel’s assurances were “neither credible nor reliable.” It cited eight examples of Israeli military actions that the officials said raise “serious questions” about potential violations of international humanitarian law.

⋮

USAID also provided input to the memo. “The killing of nearly 32,000 people, of which the GOI (Government of Israel) itself assesses roughly two-thirds are civilian, may well amount to a violation of the international humanitarian law requirement,” USAID officials wrote in the submission.

If the Biden administration wants change from Israel then they have to change the only thing Netanyahu cares about: arms shipments.

ScienceAlert: There’s an Awkward Link Between Plastic Production And Pollution We’re Not Considering

In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20 percent of global oil production and use up 15 percent of the annual carbon emissions budget.

Yeah, landfills. What the oil industry really means when they talk about “carbon capture and sequestration”! 😠

BBC: Democrats are worried. But will RFK Jr take more votes away from Trump?

Peter Kiszczyc is a regular at these rallies. He says he’s glad that independent candidates such as Mr Kennedy Jr and left-winger Cornel West have entered the race.

“Some leftists will vote for them,” said Mr Kiszczyc, 69, who emigrated to Michigan from Poland in the 1980s. “Some things I like about RFK, some I don’t.”

But he was in deep agreement with one of Mr Kennedy Jr’s most noteworthy - and controversial - issues. “All of us support his position against vaccination,” he said, gesturing at the small crowd of Trump fans.

Last Updated: 27.Apr.2024 23:56 EDT

Friday’s articles

Follow along as new links are added to today’s list

2024-04-28

🔗 Articles: Sunday 28.Apr.2024

CleanTechnica: Scientists Are Shaking Up Lithium Extraction With A Different Kind of Chemistry

Using these principles, Hlova’s team developed MELLT [mechanochemical extraction of lithium at low temperatures]. In a process called ball milling, solid spodumene chunks and a solid reactant chemical, like sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), are placed into a chamber with steel balls. The chamber is moved in different ways, causing rapid, repetitive shear and impact stresses among the materials. Repeated stress eventually leads to high-energy states within the chemicals, causing them to react with each other. These reactions result in water-soluble lithium compounds. These lithium compounds are extracted from the final product with a water wash.

MELLT streamlines hard-rock mineral extraction, uses significantly less energy, and eliminates toxic waste streams. MELLT is also much faster than brine extraction methods.

“Mechanochemistry offers a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to conducting chemical reactions,” said Hlova. “This project offers the potential to diversify lithium supply chains in the U.S., reducing lithium criticality and paving the way for a sustainable future.”

PBS: Hard-hit cocoa harvests in West Africa cause chocolate prices to soar worldwide

If you’ve shopped for chocolate recently, you may have noticed your favorite items are either smaller or more expensive, or sometimes both. The price of cocoa — the key ingredient in chocolate — is the highest it’s ever been after nearly doubling in the last four months. As Ali Rogin reports, this worldwide shortage has been years in the making.

CBC: London Drugs shuts stores in Western Canada due to ‘operational issue’

Retailer operates nearly 80 stores across B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

⋮

CBC News spoke to staff at a location in Kamloops, B.C., who said they were experiencing a “computer issue,” which meant the store could not assist customers.

TechCrunch: Humanoid robots are learning to fall well

Boston Dynamics and Agility are teaching their bipedal robots to brace for the inevitable.

Guardian: Taxing big fossil fuel firms ‘could raise $900bn in climate finance by 2030’

A new tax on fossil fuel companies based in the world’s richest countries could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the escalating climate crisis, according to a report.

The Climate Damages Tax report, published on Monday, calculates that an additional tax on fossil fuel majors based in the wealthiest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries could raise $720bn (£580bn) by the end of the decade.

SMH: Samsung S95D review: 4K TV with anti-reflection excels in the light

Samsung has delivered its third generation of OLED TVs, and once again made a surprising leap forward in capabilities, at least, as far as the flagship S95D goes.

Not only is this TV one of the brightest and most colourful models you’ll find on the market, it boasts an anti-glare screen that all but banishes reflections, making it (unusually for an OLED) ideal for bright rooms.

Daring Fireball: Paul Thurrott Reviews the 15-Inch M3 MacBook Air

Paul Thurrott, writing at his eponymous website:

Ultimately, I concluded that this isn’t just about looks, though that obviously plays a role. Instead, it’s a sum of its attributes, the total package. It’s the feeling of incredible lightness, given its size, when I pick it up to move to another room. The way it can sit on a bed or other soft surface and never get too hot or fire up some loud fans that aren’t even necessary or present in this device. How the battery just lasts and lasts and lasts, and makes a mockery of other companies’ “all-day battery life” claims.

The Athletic: Johnston: This is the end of the Maple Leafs as we know them

Eight years and nine playoff series into their shared tenure as saviors of the Maple Leafs, three of the best individual performers in franchise history were reduced to sniping at one another on the bench after bumbling through an ineffective shift together.

William Nylander appeared to direct pointed criticism at Mitch Marner. Auston Matthews looked to have some words for his teammate(s), too. Marner turned and tossed each of his gloves to the ground in frustration.

This was a make-or-break game, yet another night when they were trying to shed the weight of their past, and the Leafs instead came apart at the seams in front of national television audiences on both sides of the border and a sellout crowd at Scotiabank Arena that started off supportive and ended up sneering.

Barring an unlikely and unexpected comeback down 3-1 in a first-round series to the Boston Bruins, this was the end of the Maple Leafs as we knew them.

There is no conceivable way to run this back.

It hasn’t worked, and isn’t working. …

Last Updated: 28.Apr.2024 23:56 EDT

Saturday’s articles

Follow along as new links are added to today’s list

2024-04-29

🔗 Articles: Monday 29.Apr.2024

ScienceAlert: An Unexpected Function Discovered Inside The ‘Little Brain’ at The Back of Your Head

With a name that means ‘little brain’ in Latin, the cerebellum comprises just 10 percent of the entire brain’s mass. Don’t let that small size fool you, though; with more than three-quarters of the brain’s neurons packed within that small space, there’s a lot going on inside.

Traditionally it’s thought this part of the nervous system located at the base of the skull is mostly concerned with coordinating motor functions like balance and movement. Now new research backs up a hypothesis that’s gathering momentum: it also plays a key role in learning.

In this new study, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University wanted to build on previous research identifying the cerebellum’s posterior-lateral region as playing a role connecting what we see to the movements we make.

TidBITS: CryptoChameleon Phishing Kit Targets LastPass, Others

…watch out for a phishing call purporting to be from LastPass and claiming that your LastPass account has been accessed from a new device. The automated call instructs you to press 1 to allow access or 2 to block it. If you press 2, you’re told you’ll receive another call shortly to “close the ticket.” When that call comes, from someone identifying themselves as a LastPass employee and speaking with an American accent, the caller will send you an email that pretends to reset access to your account. Of course, it’s actually a phishing message designed to steal your credentials.

⋮

The real concern comes once sophisticated phishing attacks become completely AI-driven. We’re already seeing scammers use AI voices (see “How To Avoid AI Voice Impersonation and Similar Scams,” 25 January 2024), and it’s easy to imagine a highly directed AI chatbot generating the text behind the voice. Our first defense will be Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers, but at some point, we’ll need an AI receptionist to answer all our calls and decide which ones are legitimate.

Obviously this template can be used for any number of secure services, such as banks.

PBS NewsHour: Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf resigns after amid weakened government

Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, resigned on Monday, triggering a leadership contest as the governing Scottish National Party seeks to avoid early elections.

Yousaf, whose party has been weakened by a campaign finance scandal and divisions over transgender rights, was finally brought down by his decision to oust the Green Party from his governing coalition because of differences over climate change goals. He was forced to resign after that left him unable to cobble together a majority in Scotland’s devolved regional parliament.

With no prospect of victory in two confidence votes later this week, Yousaf quit rather than face defeat.

9to5Mac: Watch the amazingly detailed process of upgrading iPhone 15 Pro storage after purchase

Apple’s modern iPhones (iPads and Macs too) have fixed storage which is soldered to the motherboard. That means customers typically need to buy the storage they want upfront or expand with external options. However, some crafty folks out there have solved how to upgrade iPhone storage after the fact. Check out this peaceful and impressive video for how the process goes.

This process isn’t totally new, we’ve seen it with some previous iPhone models. But YouTube channel and business KingSener recently shared a slick video of the detailed work on the iPhone 15 Pro — taking storage from 128 to 512GB.

The Verge: This EV prototype charges from 10 to 80 percent almost as fast as a gas fill-up.

The prototype Polestar 5 uses an “Extreme Fast Charging” 77kWh EV pack, created in conjunction with company StoreDot, that can add 200 miles of range in 10 minutes. A Tesla would take about 15 minutes at many convenient Supercharger locations.

Polestar noted charging rates rose from 310kW at 10 percent charge to a blistering 370kW at 80 percent, and no special cooling equipment is needed.

Polestar: Polestar and StoreDot successfully charge Polestar 5 prototype from 10-80% in 10 minutes

NYT: A Peek Inside the Brains of ‘Super-Agers’

New research explores why some octogenarians have exceptional memories.

⋮

The scientists found that the super-agers had more volume in areas of the brain important for memory, most notably the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. They also had better preserved connectivity between regions in the front of the brain that are involved in cognition. Both the super-agers and the control group showed minimal signs of Alzheimer’s disease in their brains.

⋮

Experts don’t know how someone becomes a super-ager, though there were a few differences in health and lifestyle behaviors between the two groups in the Spanish study. Most notably, the super-agers had slightly better physical health, both in terms of blood pressure and glucose metabolism, and they performed better on a test of mobility. The super-agers didn’t report doing more exercise at their current age than the typical older adults, but they were more active in middle age. They also reported better mental health.

Free link

Fortune: Elon Musk publicly dumped California for Texas — now Golden State customers are getting revenge, dumping Tesla in droves

In California, where there are Teslas as far as the eye can see and rapid charging stations aplenty, new drivers are opting out of the $605 billion Elon Musk-led car universe.

Among the top three passenger cars sold in California in the first quarter this year, Elon Musk’s Tesla Model 3 dropped from first place to third, behind the Toyota Camry and the Honda Civic, according to the California New Car Dealers Association’s first quarter auto outlook on Monday. Toyota was the top brand in California this quarter, notching a 9.3% increase in registrations, followed by Honda, which marked an 18.6% rise so far this year. Tesla registrations have dropped in California year to date, with a 7.8% drop in the first quarter, following a 9.8% drop in the last quarter of 2023.

California makes up 32.5% of registrations of battery electric vehicles in the U.S., and the sluggish popularity of Tesla among new-car registrants comes at a particularly vulnerable time for Tesla as a company and for its CEO. Musk is facing significant pressure from investors who want to see him adopt the norms of a more traditional CEO, step back from his grandiose social media presence, and provide a more concrete timeline for producing an affordably priced Tesla. The company reported last week that revenues dropped 9%, which was its largest drop since 2012, while net income dropped a whopping 55% in the first quarter. Three of its top executives, including well-known insider Drew Baglino, resigned in the space of two weeks, which further rattled investors.

9to5Mac: These are my favorite HomeKit Secure Video cameras in 2024

HomeKit Secure Video is Apple’s platform for recording and managing security camera footage. Everything is handled directly through the Home app, where you can manage settings, view recording history, and view live feeds from your cameras.

There are several benefits to using HomeKit Secure Video. For example, everything is completely end-to-end encryption. It’s also nice being able to see all of your cameras and recordings in the Home app, alongside controls for other smart home accessories.

Additionally, when you use a camera via HomeKit Secure Video, you don’t have to rely on the camera manufacturer’s app or cloud service. This means you don’t have to worry about the manufacturer of the camera’s security practices. Just be sure to disable all recording in that manufacturer’s app.

Last Updated: 29.Apr.2024 23:19 EDT

Sunday’s articles

Follow along as new links are added to today’s list

2024-04-30