Tootfinder

Filing: the US greenlights Nvidia H200 exports to China; the chips will be tested by a 3rd-party lab to confirm their AI capabilities before they can be shipped (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-eases-regulation…

Ireland's media regulator launches its first formal investigation under the EU DSA, probing X for allegedly failing to remove illegal content reported by users (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-12/elo…

Einstein and Debye temperatures, electron-phonon coupling constant and a probable mechanism for ambient-pressure room-temperature superconductivity in intercalated graphite
E. F. Talantsev
https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.07460 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.07460 https://arxiv.org/html/2511.07460
arXiv:2511.07460v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Recently, Ksenofontov et al (arXiv:2510.03256) observed ambient pressure room-temperature superconductivity in graphite intercalated with lithium-based alloys with transition temperature (according to magnetization measurements) $T_c=330$ $K$. Here, I analyzed the reported temperature dependent resistivity data $\rho(T)$ in these graphite-intercalated samples and found that $\rho(T)$ is well described by the model of two series resistors, where each resistor is described as either an Einstein conductor or a Bloch-Gr\"uneisen conductor. Deduced Einstein and Debye temperatures are $\Theta_{E,1} \approx 250$ $K$ and $\Theta_{E,2} \approx 1,600$ $K$, and $\Theta_{D,1} \approx 300$ $K$ and $\Theta_{D,2} \approx 2,200$ $K$, respectively. Following the McMillan formalism, from the deduced $\Theta_{E,2}$ and $\Theta_{D,2}$, the electron-phonon coupling constant $\lambda_{e-ph} = 2.2 - 2.6$ was obtained. This value of $\lambda_{e-ph}$ is approximately equal to the value of $\lambda_{e-ph}$ in highly compressed superconducting hydrides. Based on this, I can propose that the observed room-temperature superconductivity in intercalated graphite is localized in nanoscale Sr-Ca-Li metallic flakes/particles, which adopt the phonon spectrum from the surrounding bulk graphite matrix, and as a result, conventional electron-phonon superconductivity arises in these nano-flakes/particles at room temperature. Experimental data reported by Ksenofontov et al (arXiv:2510.03256) on trapped magnetic flux decay in intercalated graphite samples supports the proposition.
toXiv_bot_toot

Air Quality Index: Cats

How the insurance crisis overtook California
Insurance Commissioner Lara’s 2023 regulatory overhaul promised to ease California’s insurance crisis
but instead delivered major concessions to the industry.
Under Lara’s watch, the state’s insurer of last resort exploded
from 123,657 policies in 2019 to over 645,000,
leaving January wildfire victims underinsured.
Six of nine insurers filing under new rules
add zero new policies in high-risk zones
-…

How the insurance crisis overtook California
Insurance Commissioner Lara's 2023 regulatory overhaul promised to ease California's insurance crisis but instead delivered major concessions to the industry.

So this is percolating and the results so far are not surprising.
I'd vote NO, for the following reasons:
- oil demand continues to decline and risk is high we'll end up with an expensive underutilized pipeline. Therefore high risk we'll end up subsidizing any private entity that builds this thing.
- why would we invest public dollars to support infrastructure for a product where 75% of the profit leaves Canada? There has to be a net benefit, beyond steel sales and jobs, for this project to be considered.
- Indigenous land rights must be respected. They will be left with the rusting pipeline decades in the future, and it's impact on the land.
- the B.C. government must also have a final vote as they have to give up land and provide support.
- we don't need additional oil tankers on our west coast.
- and most importantly, with this MOU, Canada pretty much declared we aren't serious about protecting the environment or fighting climate change. We're oil whores. Harsh but....
#CanPoli #ClimateAction

UK sports publisher GRV cut ~60 staff since September, reducing its workforce to 94, citing drops in Google traffic; other sports sites report similar declines (Alice Brooker/Press Gazette)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/uk-based-sports-publish…

UK-based sports publisher cuts 60 staff due to Google updates
UK-based sports website publisher GRV Media has let go of 60 staff since September as a result of falling Google referral traffic.

Sometimes i have the feeling that AI results in Google Search are just a placeholder. Results are often awful and incomparable with using the paid version of Gemini 3 with the same query. Google is betting that models will improve and become cheaper so that they can offer a better experience in the future.
#AI #Search

I've never flown in a helicopter and I'd be keen to fly in one of these if it was even vaguely affordable:
https://www.the-independent.com/tech/caa-canary-wharf-london-cambridge-european-union-aviati…

Flying taxis to take passengers to airports in minutes from 2028, company says
Vertical Aerospace hopes its Valo aircraft, which has a capacity for up to six passengers, can get regulatory approval in three years.

Sources say President Trump's efforts to block state-level AI regulations through a preemption proposal are facing significant opposition on Capitol Hill (Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/02/ai-preemption-push-stalls-trump-pressure

Trump's push to overrule state AI regulations stalls
His calls to block state-level AI regulation are falling short on Capitol Hill.