New posts from the.micro.blog
🔗 Articles: Tuesday 30.Apr.2024
Manton Reece: video: AI in Micro.blog
I posted a video on YouTube todaywith where we’re going in Micro.blog to use AI in a limited way to help with search and accessibility.
Globe: editorial: It’s time to retire subsidies to rich seniors
The Liberals touted billions of dollars being spent for a “fair chance” for those voting cohorts. But the numbers in the budget are plain enough: spending on seniors far outstrips those commitments, particularly once health care is included.
Paul Kershaw, a University of British Columbia professor and founder of Generation Squeeze, calculates that this month’s budget adds $3,500 per senior in new spending through fiscal 2028 – more than four times greater than the per capita increase of $800 for each person under the age of 45. For his part, Prof. Kershaw views the budget as “an important first step” in reducing generational inequities.
Kottke (NYT): Super cool photos from this story about a nuclear-powered sub
Super cool photos from this story about a nuclear-powered submarine. Interesting detail: “Day 31 is sometimes the lowest morale day while underway. App downloads expire: Spotify, Netflix, etc.”
MacRumors: iOS 17.5 Includes ‘Repair State’ Option That Doesn’t Require Turning Off Find My for Service
Right now, sending an iPhone to Apple to be repaired requires turning off Find My, and Apple says that it “might not” be able to repair devices that have Find My activated. Turning off Find My disables Activation Lock, an important anti-theft security feature that prevents an iPhone from being used with another Apple ID.
Apple currently uses Find My and Activation Lock as a way to ensure that a person sending a device in for repair actually owns that device, and that it’s not stolen. An iPhone sent in for repair with Find My disabled cannot be tracked, and it is not protected from theft, so if it is lost or stolen at some point in transit during the repair process, there is no recovery method available. Removing Find My also has a hitch with Stolen Device Protection, as there is an hour wait when turning off Find My, which can be inconvenient for repair purposes.
WashPo: Trump fined in hush money trial over gag order violations
Former president Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday for repeatedly violating a gag order, and the judge overseeing his ongoing criminal trial warned him he could go to jail if he keeps breaking the court’s rules.
“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchanwrote in an eight-page ruling finding Trump violated the order on nine occasions.
PBS NewsHour: United Methodists begin historic reversal on longstanding anti-LGBTQ policies
United Methodist delegates began making historic changes in their policies on sexuality on Tuesday — voting without debate to reverse a series of anti-LGBTQ policies.
The delegates voted to delete mandatory penalties for conducting same-sex marriages and to remove their denomination’s bans on considering LGBTQ candidates for ministry and on funding for gay-friendly ministries.
The 667-54 vote, coming during their legislative General Conference, removes some of the scaffolding around the United Methodist Church’s longstanding bans on LGBTQ-affirming policies regarding ordination, marriage and funding.
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The actions follow a historic schism in what was long the third-largest denomination in the United States.
About one-quarter of U.S. congregations left between 2019 and 2023, mostly conservative churches dismayed that the denomination wasn’t enforcing its longstanding LGBTQ bans. With the absence of many conservative delegates, who had been in the solid majority in previous general conferences and had steadily reinforced such bans over the decades, progressive delegates are moving quickly to reverse such policies.
Last Updated: 30.Apr.2024 18:52 EDT
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🔗 Articles: Wednesday 01.May.2024
Manton Reece: AI hesitancy
The tech and startup world has had no shortage of over-hyped sidetracks. Blockchain is the most recent flop. Just because a technology is novel, doesn’t mean a practical purpose and business model will emerge.
I almost never jump on trends because you can waste so much time chasing productivity gains that you actually end up going backwards. I run my servers with old tech. I use tried and true programming languages and frameworks. I am not cutting edge.
Interesting post from Manton.
Ars Technica: The BASIC programming language turns 60
Sixty years ago, on May 1, 1964, at 4 am in the morning, a quiet revolution in computing began at Dartmouth College. That’s when mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz successfully ran the first program written in their newly developed BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) programming language on the college’s General Electric GE-225 mainframe.
Harpers: Daniel Bessner: The Life and Death of Hollywood
Making a show for Apple was not what she’d hoped it would be. What the company wanted from her and the series never felt clear—there was a “radical information asymmetry,” she said, regarding management’s priorities and metrics. After she and her colleagues completed the first season of Dickinson, they waited for the streamer to launch and the show to air. Their requests for a firm timeline and premiere date were ignored. Smith started to worry that Apple might scrap the idea for the streaming platform altogether, in which case the show might never be seen, or might even disappear—she didn’t have a copy of the finished product. It belonged to Apple and lived on the company’s servers.
NYT: Ross Douthat: Biden Is Still Losing. His Campaign Should Stop Acting Like He Isn’t.
In February there was a flurry of discussion about whether President Biden’s advancing age and seeming weakness in a matchup with Donald Trump meant that he should step aside. I wrote a column on that theme, but the more notable (that is, nonconservative) voices arguing that Biden should consider withdrawing from the race included the polling maven Nate Silver and my colleague Ezra Klein. The report from the special counsel Robert Hur, which indicated memory problems for the president, was also part of the discussion – or, if you prefer the terms favored by the president’s allies, part of the unnecessary freakout.
“The Drumbeat for Biden to Step Aside Will Only Grow Louder” ran one headline from that period, from Robert Kuttner in The American Prospect. Kuttner was wrong; the drumbeat has quieted. All it took was Biden giving a passable State of the Union address: Thereafter his poll numbers marginally improved, the optimists on the Democratic side seized the rhetorical initiative, and the “Should Biden step aside?” discourse faded into background noise.
But here we are entering May, with just six months before the election, and the basic dynamic that inspired the original discussion/freakout is still with us.
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It means eschewing the smaller kind of potential ticket shake-up, in which Kamala Harris, the worst possible backstop for an aging president, yields to a vice-presidential candidate who might actually be reassuring, even popular.
MacRumors: Google Paid Apple $20 Billion in 2022 to Be Default Safari Search Engine
Google paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to be the default search engine for Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, reports Bloomberg. The information was revealed in court documents Google provided in its antitrust dispute with the United States Department of Justice.
The DoJ has accused Google of having a monopoly on search, and in the lawsuit against Google, the search engine deal with Apple has been a major focus. In November, lawsuit documents indicated that Google was paying 36 percent of the total revenue that it earns from searches conducted on Safari, and now it turns out that equates to $20 billion.
Last Updated: 01.May.2024 23:55 EDT
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🔗 Articles: Thursday 02.May.2024
NYT: Duane Eddy, Whose Twang Changed Rock ’n’ Roll, Dies at 86
A self-taught electric guitar virtuoso, he influenced a generation of musicians. One of them, John Fogerty, called him rock’s first guitar god.
CNBC: Self-made millionaire Scott Galloway: Why you shouldn’t follow passion
Self-made millionaire and serial entrepreneur Scott Galloway says there are two critical secrets to success: Following your passion is “bulls—,” and pick a good life partner.
Electrek: Cadillac balks on 2030 EV plans, gas cars may remain an option
GM luxury brand Cadillac has yet to give up on its plans to go electric by the end of the decade, but that strategy has wavered to the point where it might also include combustion vehicles, at least for the foreseeable future. Cadillac’s global vice president recently told reporters that the company has plans for its EV and combustion powertrains to “coexist for a number of years.”
Cadillac is a long-standing GM sub-brand that has followed the parent company’s lead in embracing electrification-m — or, at the very least, continuously sharing intentions to do so. To date, Cadillac has developed and delivered one BEV model–the LYRIQ.
That said, Cadillac has several plans for more EVs in its development pipeline, including a smaller, more affordable option compared to the LYRIQ called the OPTIQ. Cadillac has also unveiled an all-electric version of the Escalade called the IQ, a three-row SUV called the VISTIQ, and the ultra-luxe hand-built CELESTIQ… for $340,0000.
Cadillac has been advertising the LYRIQ EV on the NHL playoffs at least.
Last Updated: 02.May.2024 13:50 EDT
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🔗 Articles: Friday 03.May.2024
CBC: Foreign meddling may have flipped B.C. riding, inquiry finds
[CPC candidate Kenny] Chiu, who was first elected in the riding in 2019 after coming second in 2015, was defeated in the 2021 election by Liberal Parm Bains, by a count of 16,543 votes to 13,066.
Company’s 80-plus stores in Western Canada have been closed since Sunday due to ‘cybersecurity incident’.
CBC: Alberta Conservative MP kicked out of the House of Commons
Speaker of the House Greg Fergus orders Conservative MP Rachael Thomas to withdraw from the House of Commons for ‘disregarding the authority of the chair.’ Thomas was heard saying ‘the chair is acting in a disgraceful manner.’
NewsNation: Titan submersible likely imploded due to shape, carbon fiber: Scientists
Most submersibles are spherical, allowing pressure to be evenly distributed around them, while the Titan was a cylindrical vessel to allow more space for passengers. While a perfectly shaped cylinder could withstand large amounts of pressure, imperfections in its shape could lead to uneven pressure distribution that could cause the walls to buckle.
The submersible was also constructed with carbon fiber and titanium, rather than just titanium or steel, which could have played a role. Carbon fiber is strong but subject to more wear and tear than titanium or steel. Any weakness in the material could have been enough to cause an implosion.
Wales Online: Will Hayward: I stayed in the cheapest hotel in Cardiff and I was so miserable
Given that I just needed somewhere to sleep it made sense to try to go for a cheap option. So I went on a few price comparison sites, shopped around a bit and discovered the cheapest option for me in Cardiff at the time was the Zip hotel on Ipswich Road, hidden behind the David Lloyd Club on a patch of land between Newport Road and the A48.
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From the outside of the hotel you can see that there are windows there. I also have mates who have stayed at the hotel before it was a Zip and they said they had windows! I think what they have done is halve the size of all the rooms meaning that the windows would actually straddle across two rooms so they have therefore decided to cover the windows and allow people to have their own misery disco instead.
Last Updated: 03.May.2024 02:24 EDT
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🔗 Articles: Saturday 04.May.2024
SMH: Ecuador beauty queen shot after posting ceviche to Instagram
An Ecuadorian beauty queen was assassinated after her Instagram post of a plate of octopus ceviche led gunmen to the restaurant where she was dining.
Police are investigating the shooting of 23-year-old Landy Parraga amid media speculation the hit was ordered by the widow of a drug lord with whom she is believed to have had an affair.
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Angulo is one of some 50 people being prosecuted as a result of Operation Metastasis, the investigation into a criminal network accused of corrupting Ecuadorian state officials.
Among those charged are judges accused of granting gang leaders favourable rulings, police officials suspected of tampering with evidence and delivering weapons to prisons, and the former director of Ecuador’s prison authority, who is accused of giving special treatment to a powerful drug trafficker.
The corruption case burst into the open last December with dozens of arrests, just weeks before Ecuador experienced an explosion of violence as gangs took scores of prison guards and police officers hostage.
NYT: Gaby Del Valle: The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez You Don’t Know
The strategy she has come to embrace isn’t what anyone would ve expected when she arrived in Washington. In some ways, she’s asking the obvious questions: What’s broadly popular among a vast majority of Americans, and how can I make it happen? To achieve progress on these issues, she has sought common ground in places where her peers are not thinking to look. Her willingness to forge unlikely alliances, in surprisingly productive places, has opened a path to new voters — for her party, her ideas and her own political ambitions if she ever decides to run for higher office.
Guardian: Warren Buffett backs Apple after firm sells millions of shares in iPhone maker
Berkshire Hathaway CEO stressed relationship at annual meeting attracting Apple CEO Tim Cook, Bill Gates and Bill Murray.
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Earlier this week, Apple reported that its sales had declined for the fifth time in six quarters as it grapples with weaker demand for the iPhone. But Buffett maintained on Saturday that the device is “one of the greatest products — maybe the great product — of all time”.
TorStar: Althia Raj: Acting like a petulant child paid off for Pierre Poilievre
If the Conservative leader invokes the notwithstanding clause, the norms that have prevented its use by a prime minister will have been shattered…
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Speaking to the Canadian Police Association, Poilievre said a Conservative government would repeal Bill C-83, which guides the Correctional Service of Canada to use the “least restrictive measures” to ensure the protection of society, staff and offenders. Poilievre pledged multiple murders would serve consecutive sentences, rather than concurrent ones, and “multiple murderers will only ever come out of jail in a box.”
“And all of my proposals are constitutional,” he told the crowd. “We will make them constitutional, using whatever tools the Constitution allows me to use to make them constitutional. I think you know exactly what I mean.”
And the “faint hope clause”?
An hour-and-a-half later, the Conservative party sent out a fundraising note, in which it lied about the reason for Poilievre’s expulsion.
Last Updated: 05.May.2024 12:56 EDT
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🔗 Articles: Sunday 05.May.2024
Vince Ritter: The silence of the blog
You see, I love working on things behind the scenes. I love it because I get to touch a handful of people’s lives in a meaningful way. I don’t need to blog about it… all I need to do is bring myself and deliver what I do. That’s it.
It’s simple. I love touching peoples lives through my code. That might be directly through my products, or code that you don’t see and perhaps use without knowing. And I don’t need confirmation of big user numbers to feel a sense of achievement, nor do I need follower counts to claim my “status”.
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I am happiest when I open my code editor and create something. I am happy that whoever I work with is happy with the results… and I am happy when those results speak and get in the hands of a handful others (maybe just used internally, who knows).
People: Death of Skier Killed in Collision With Another Skier Is Ruled a Homicide
Per a Facebook post made by the Teton County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) on Monday, April 22, the collision occurred at approximately 10 a.m. on the Rendezvous Trail at JHMR in Teton Village.
Wuerslin — a 71-year-old part-time ski instructor — was skiing with a group of peers when the unidentified skier collided with him from uphill, per the skiing industry site Snow Brains. He wasn’t teaching at the time of the incident.
via SmartNews
Electrek: Tesla conducting more layoffs, including entire Supercharger team
29.April.2024
Just after laying off “more than 10%” of its global workforce, Tesla is laying off even more employees – including senior executives and long-time veterans of the company, most notably the entire Supercharging team and the executive responsible for negotiating NACS adoption across the industry.
Tesla started the week before last with news of a huge round of layoffs.
The layoffs were quite broad across the company. Tesla shortened production shifts at Gigafactory Texas and cleared out several teams associated with critical projects there, even firing important executives.
CleanTechnica: EVs At 24.3% Share In France — BEVs Grow Volume 45% YoY
The auto market saw plugin EVs at 24.3% share in France in April 2024, growing from 21.1% year on year. Full electric volume was up by a strong 45% YoY, while plugin hybrid volume was flat. Overall auto volume was 146,979 units, up 11% YoY, though remaining below 2017–2019 seasonal norms (~185,000). The Peugeot e-208 was once again the best selling full electric vehicle.
Last Updated: 05.May.2024 23:54 EDT
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Boston @ Florida: Round 2, Game 1
- we watched the first period but it was actually rather boring and we turned it off 🔗 Articles: Monday 06.May.2024
ScienceAlert: Watch: Boeing’s Starliner Capsule Blasts Off on First Crewed Mission to ISS Today
Launch day is finally here: Boeing’s Starliner capsule blasts off Monday to the International Space Station on its first crewed mission – several years after SpaceX first achieved the same milestone.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) it was scrubbed because of a faulty oxygen relief valve.
NYT: Bernie Sanders to Run for Re-Election, Seeking a Fourth Senate Term
The 82-year-old Vermont independent, a leading progressive in Washington, cast November’s elections as a fight for democracy.
ScienceAlert: Fusion Breakthrough: 6 Minutes of Plasma Sets New Reactor Record
A [tokamak] fusion reactor in southern France, called WEST, just achieved an important milestone that brings us one step closer to clean, sustainable, nearly limitless energy.
Scientists at New Jersey’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, who collaborated on the project, announced today that the device created … a plasma that reached 90 million degrees Fahrenheit (50 million degrees Celsius) for 6 straight minutes.
NYT: Michelle Goldberg: Senators Need to Stop the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act
An unfortunate symbiosis has developed between pro-Israel culture warriors like Republican Representative Elise Stefanik and the most self-indulgent fringe of pro-Palestinian campus protesters. Together they are, wittingly or unwittingly, shifting attention from the urgent emergency in Gaza, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to defy the United States and invade the southern city of Rafah, to the much smaller problem of campus antisemitism.
NYT: Lead in Beethoven’s Hair Offers New Clues to Mystery of His Deafness
Using powerful technologies, scientists found staggering amounts of lead and other toxic substances in the composer’s hair that may have come from wine, or other sources.
Last Updated: 06.May.2024 23:21 EDT
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