Tootfinder

Results of the event “Breakfast with the Prosecutor General of Ukraine”: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/07/results-of-the.html

Birds of Empire 🦅🐻🐺🐏
Dramatized post-apocalyptic fantasy series | New Dakota: 15,000 CE, thousands of years after the fall of civilization. Having barely survived, humanity has returned to a way of life more closely resembling civilizations of the ancient past: The Bears, The Rams, The Birds, and The Wolves.
A drama...
https://www…

Birds of Empire 🦅🐻🐺🐏
Dramatized post-apocalyptic fantasy series | New Dakota: 15,000 CE, thousands of years after the fall of civilization. Having barely survived, humanity has returned to a way of life more closely resembling civilizations of the ancient past: The Bears, The Rams, The Birds, and The Wolves. A dramatized cinematic fantasy event in audio. 2 seasons, 28 episodes as of Feb 22, 2024.

Trump says GOP is the
‘party of fertilization,’
and seems unaware of Michigan’s abortion amendment
In an interview with FOX-2, Trump said
abortion is ‘not that big of an issue’
https://michiganadvance.com/…

Trump says GOP is the 'party of fertilization,' seems unaware of Michigan’s abortion amendment • Michigan Advance
Calling the Republican Party the “party of fertilization,” former President Trump continues to make false claims in a recent interview with a Detroit TV station, while simultaneously taking credit for the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. In an interview last week with FOX-2 Detroit following his Wednesday rally in Saginaw County, anchor Roop Raj asked […]

Robinhood says up to 25% of its trading volume is outside of traditional market hours, and investors have traded $10B overnight since its 24-hour rules in 2023 (Paige Smith/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

A Quarter of Robinhood’s Trading Volume Often Comes After Hours
Robinhood Markets Inc. is seeing as much as 25% of total trading volume coming outside of traditional market hours as investors take advantage of extended days on the retail-brokerage platform.

How marvellous! Photons re so handy! Infrared Sensors Can Now Peer Around Corners: Non-line-of-sight imaging is no longer restricted to visible wavelengths of light
https://spectrum.ieee.org/non-line-of-sight-infrared

Infrared Sensors Can Now Peer Around Corners
Non-line-of-sight imaging is no longer restricted to visible wavelengths of light

Time to build: about 45 mins (not including soldering the power supply)
Materials:
(4) $5 Arctic P12 fans
(2) $10 10x20x1 1200D filtrete MERV-11 filters
(2) $7 20x20x1 1500 MERV-12 filtrete filters (pack of 12 off ebay)
duct tape
zip ties
cardboard
12V power supply (free because I soldered a random old adapter, but normally $10 plus $3 or so for a splitter. Or get the fans with built-in splitters)
Total: approx $55, next one will cost about $70.<…

‘A likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment’: At first criminal trial of a former president, judge keeps juror names protected — and warns Trump about gag order

Finding 'likelihood' of harassment, judge keeps juror names under wraps for Trump NY trial
Juror names will be hidden from public view in Donald Trump's impending criminal hush money and election interference trial in New York, a judge has ruled. But Trump will still have private access.

Who says online exhibitions aren't a thing anymore? Not us. Every semester, Callan Steinmann, our head of education and curator of academic and public programs works with University of Georgia students (either museum interns or Museum Studies students) on a pop-up exhibition of works from our collection. The works are on view for only one night, but we preserve the work these students do by turning the pop-up into a permanent show online.

Robert Marsham’s “Indications of Spring” (1789)
What can we learn from observing the progression of spring — a hawthorn’s first flowering, the return of birdsong on a particular day? About the lifelong calendrical project of Robert Marsham, the Norfolk naturalist considered Britain's first phenologist.

Add another one to the list…
“Luis Borunda, a former deputy secretary of state under [Governor Larry] Hogan, was charged with two counts of distribution of child pornography, sexual exploitation of a child, and possession of child pornography”
#Trump previously appointed Borunda to his 2017 “election integrity committee.”

Former GOP Official Accused Of Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Images
Former Maryland Deputy Secretary of State Luis Borunda was first arrested last year after allegedly trying to meet with an investigator posting as 13-year-old girl.

Do you think all people deserve a level of life that affords them human dignity? Are you not a fan of fascists? According to the UK government, you could be…
A TERRORIST!!!
#prevent #uk #ukpol

Seriously though, if you'd like to read about a pretty amazing woman who I've had the honour of getting to know better since joining the Board of the local women's shelter society: Ellen Frood is it.
“Her mother was a pioneer broadcaster with CBC in Ontario and Quebec and one of the first appointees in the late 1960s to the National Advisory Council on the Status of Women.
“A beautiful role model for me to follow,” says Frood, who 40 years later was invited to Ottawa…

Right, so, visualisations of Galloway
1. About 5,000 years after the ice has melted, with widespread forest;
2. About 5,000 years after that, after 200 generations of human settlement.
This is pure simulation, not actual data; but the land it shows as flooded is either still lochs and wetlands, or land we know has historically been drained. The areas of settlement are plausible, and map onto historical settlements.

Here’s my contribution to the #eclipse image database: it’s me, holding my shoe horn that has a hole in its end, at eclipse maximum in the #sfba.
#eclipse2024

Here is Biden's State of the Union speech as prepared for delivery:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/07/remarks-of-president-joe-biden-st…

Remarks of President Joe Biden -- State of the Union Address As Prepared for Delivery | The White House
The United States Capitol Good evening.  Mr. Speaker. Madam Vice President. Members of Congress. My Fellow Americans.  In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation.  He said, “I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.”  Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe.  President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the…

Why are news sites going out of business? It’s not complicated:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-is-your-news-site-going-out-of-business/sharetoken/amcV8gnHdZTi

Why Is Your News Site Going Out of Business?
Over the years I've written about structural problems in the digital news industry, often driven by the growth of platform monopolies and other issues. Just in the last few months and even in the last…

First-rate analysis of what the Supreme Court just did:
“A five-man majority has effectively nullified a critical provision of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. The ‘oathbreaking insurrectionist’ Trump—a designation unchallenged by the Supreme Court majority or even his attorneys—will never be disqualified from the presidency.”
“The Court severely weakened an essential barrier to violent despotism that had been erected in the aftermath of the Civil War.”

<…

The Constitution Turned Upside Down | Sean Wilentz
In one of the Supreme Court’s most sweeping rulings in modern times, a five-man majority has effectively nullified a critical provision of the Fourteenth

This comic (is|is not) about Sam Altman.
(Original title: The Measure of Intelligence)
https://leftycartoons.com/2024/04/08/the-measure-of-intelligence/

The Measure of Intelligence
This cartoon is by me and Nadine Scholtes. TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON This cartoon has four panels. PANEL 1 A man wearing a brown jacket over jeans and a v-neck t-shirt is sitting on a park bench, stari…

https://kbd.news/A-brief-history-of-keyboard-encoding-2199.html - A brief history of keyboard encoding.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a cryptographic one-way function that can serve as a counterfeit-proof way of certifying the authenticity of valuable objects such as works of art and tracing raw materials and industrial products.
If DNA sequencing becomes easier, it could also become a way to check passwords.
But, "A little more thought has already gone into the idea of using the technology for the forgery-​proof certification of works of art. For instance, if there are ten copies of a picture, the artist can mark them all with the DNA pool – perhaps by mixing the DNA into the paint, spraying it onto the picture or applying it to a specific spot."
https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2024/04/protecting-art-and-passwords-with-biochemistry.html

International Sweethearts of Rhythm
https://www.didiermary.fr/international-sweethearts-of-rhythm/
L’International Sweethearts of Rhythm est un big band féminin formé aux États-Unis en 1937 et le premier orchestre féminin Š mettre en pratique la dés…

International Sweethearts of Rhythm - Didier J. MARY (blog)
L'International Sweethearts of Rhythm, big band féminin formé en 1937 est le premier orchestre féminin à mettre en pratique la déségrégation.

'Best years are ahead of him': Troy Aikman offers vote of confidence to Dak Prescott  https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/best_years_are_ahead_of_him_troy_aikman_offers_vote_of_confid…

'Best years are ahead of him': Troy Aikman offers vote of confidence to Dak Prescott 
The contract of the Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott‘s contract is one of the major discussion points in this offseason. The quarterback is rumored to bag an annual salary of $59.4 million. Amid the so-called contract talks and associated criticism, Troy Aikman, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, stood by the present one. Aikman is the last quarterback to win the Super Bowl for the Cowboys. The team peaked at his time as they won three Super Bowls in the span of four years. He gave…

Archeoastronomy uses the rare times and places of previous total solar eclipses to help us measure history
https://theconversation.com/archeoastronomy-uses-the-rare-times-and-places-of-pre…

Interesting development in quantum.
https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/Experiment-opens-door-for-millions-of-qubits-on-one-chip.html

Experiment opens door for millions of qubits on one chip
Researchers from the University of Basel and the NCCR SPIN have achieved the first controllable interaction between two hole spin qubits in a conventional silicon transistor. The breakthrough opens up the possibility of integrating millions of these qubits on a single chip using mature manufacturing processes.

I really do hope we recommit avoiding this kind of tragedy again. As it stands, I really do not know that we will.
https://www.threads.net/@potus/post/C6tfo4YLfHF

Freudian slip of the day, in a transcript on a discussion of the interim chancellor of the University of North Carolina:

“It is the result of heedless gerrymandering out in the states, the massive amount of unregulated money that overwhelmed the ability of the national party to maintain any sort of discipline, and the steady and irreversible progress of the prion disease that has afflicted conservatism since Ronald Reagan first fed it the monkey brains back in the late 1970s.” 🔥

The Reign Of Republican Idiots In the House Was So Avoidable
I do not feel sympathy for this problem of the party's own making.

Hey, you should try our new prescription medication! 💊
Side effects include: sneezing, wheezing, labored breathing, trouble speaking, sleeping, eating, hemorrhages, internal bleeding, feeling short of breath, nausea, dry mouth, cough, and fever, blockages of the ureter, choking, bloating, tremors, coma, stroke, or death, mood swings, muscle aches, weight gain, fugue states, osteoporosis, sudden psychosis, supercalifragilisticexpialidosis, masochism, vampirism, sudden necromanticism, phantom limbs, fanaticism, chronic déjŠ vu, transient telepathy, changes in your destiny, ancient forms of leprosy, chronic déjŠ vu, loss of hair: hair, weight, smell, taste, balance, vision, hearing, strength, loss of memory, will to live, sense of self, fucks to give.
⚠️ Do not take this medicine if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or a human person. Ask your doctor if it's right for you.

Do road diets really cost what DOTs say they do?
Because a Baltimore streetscape project was changed in midstream, we know the price of the road diet part. Converting the 4-lane road to 2 car lanes 2 bike lanes cost $182,432 out of a total project cost of $61,200,000.

After 8 years of construction and 31% over budget, the Central Avenue Streetscape is almost done | Baltimore Brew
The Board of Estimates is expected to approve another $6.5 million today to finish a project bogged down in cost overruns.

I am a lawyer. I complain that we have created a procedural morass that creates so much expense and delay that our proclaimed system of justice is not really a system of justice and is more a system of evasion by the rich.
We have bent so far in the direction of fairness stacked upon fairness that those with the deepest of pockets (and often with the lowest of ethics) can use delay and expense to smother even the most worthy of opponents who have the most deserving of claims.
He…

Steve Bannon’s Refusal to Pay His Bills Is Costing Him Big
Bannon has refused to pay his legal bills for two years. Now he and his current lawyer are facing fines over Bannon’s refusal to make good on his debts.

A shift from agricultural employment to manufacturing accelerated a century before the steam engine & the boom in coal usage: intriguing findings from 20 years of archival research in England & Wales.
If it wasn't the energy... new techniques, in process or organisation? (eg printing?) Hard-working immigrants? Ideas thus spread? Any ideas here re the past, or for our future?

‘Nation of makers’: Britain industrialised over a century earlier than history books claim
Millions of historical employment records show the British workforce turned sharply towards manufacturing jobs during the 1600s – suggesting the birth of the industrial age has much deeper roots.   

Solar now accounts for over 50% of new electricity capacity added to the U.S. grid
"Looking back at the first full year since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Solar Market Insight, Year-in-Review 2023 shows that the legislation has skyrocketed the industry and will have a lasting economic impact in terms of energy, jobs and investment opportunity."

Solar now accounts for over 50% of new electricity capacity added to the U.S. grid
Looking back at the first full year since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Solar Market Insight, Year-in-Review 2023 shows that the legislation has skyrocketed the industry and will have a lasting economic impact in terms of energy, jobs and investment opportunity.

Heh - you know that common “boiling frogs” warning against slow invasions of all kinds? Yeah, not really. “Usually, this means that a frog will hop out of the water once it’s above 77 degrees Fahrenheit — no matter whether it gets there slowly or quickly.”
https://

The Truth Behind the Myth of Boiling Frogs - Sharing Science - Medium
A common warning on the internet is to beware a slow invasion. If things change slowly enough, you may not realize how drastically things have changed. “A frog will jump out of a pot of boiling water…

“Severing the link between the impulse to read and the act of buying is existentially threatening for publishing. Generally, I’m in favour of the strategic use of platforms, but when the platform becomes king, that is usually to the disadvantage of the creator.”

Lizzy Kremer, David Higham Associates m.d. | ‘We are conscientious in our contract work and we’re proud of that’
As m.d. of the almost 90-year-old agency, Lizzy Kremer isn’t afraid of a little hard work and says what's crucial is "a keen sense of unseen advocacy and active engagement with publishers".

If you post to #StackExchange, you license that content to them under CC-BY-SA. You can't revoke that license, so you can't remove that content.
It shouldn't surprise you that they stop you from trying. Imagine a Wikipedia editor trying to remove their edits.
However, what it does give you is the right to host _all_ of SE elsewhere. To fork it, if SE violates its co…

A timely piece by A.Nelson. @…
Timely given the plethora of ill-informed critiques of #degrowth.
She tackles a difficult task, summarising the diversity of degrowth as concept, practice and also movement.
Degrowth as a Concept and a Practice:…

Degrowth as a Concept and a Practice: Introduction
Working within the limits of Earth and people, and celebrating the potential of both, they envisage a substantive democracy, direct action by people, with power distributed on the basis of subsidiarity and exercised in ways highly respectful of Earth, the source of human being.

Brief der Präsidentin der New School New York an den Rektor der Uni Köln anlässlich der Absage an Nancy Fraser.

Blazing Saddles at 50: the button-pushing spoof that could never get made today
The 1974 spin on westerns sees Mel Brooks pointing at the absurdity of racism and the history of human evil while always ensuring a steady stream of laughter
https://www.theguardian.c…

Moduli of K3 surfaces of degree 2 with four rational double points of type $D_4$
Kazushi Ueda
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.04177 https://

Moduli of K3 surfaces of degree 2 with four rational double points of type $D_4$
We show that the Satake-Baily-Borel compactification of the moduli space of lattice polarized K3 surfaces parametrizing K3 surfaces of degree 2 with four rational double points of type $D_4$ is the projective 3-space. We also show that the corresponding graded ring of automorphic forms is generated by four elements of weight 2 and one element of weight 11 with one relation of weight 22.

The largest-ever study of #bird #genomes has produced a remarkably clear picture of the bird family tree.
The study shows that most modern groups of birds first appeared within 5 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Previous studies showed the bird family tree has three major branches.
The…

After 10 years of work, landmark study reveals new ‘tree of life’ for all birds living today
The extinction of the dinosaurs sparked an explosion of bird species, according to the largest-ever study of bird genetics.

Boy Scouts of America changing name to more inclusive Scouting America after years of woes | Courthouse News Service
https://www.courthousenews.com/boy-scouts-of-america-changing-name-to-more-inclusive-scou…

Boy Scouts of America changing name to more inclusive Scouting America after years of woes
After a high point over the last decade of over 2 million members in 2018, the organization currently services just over 1 million youths.

The Call of Cthulhu Mystery Program - Season 4 finale 🙀😈💖
Role-playing horror comedy | What dark deeds unfold on the streets of Arkham? Which unwitting souls will succumb to the maddening call… OF CTHULHU?Unlikely heroes from all walks of life risk their sanity to keep the world spinning as they face down eldritch nightmares, unholy rituals, kindly crea...

The Call of Cthulhu Mystery Program - Season 4 finale 🙀😈💖
Role-playing horror comedy | What dark deeds unfold on the streets of Arkham? Which unwitting souls will succumb to the maddening call… OF CTHULHU?Unlikely heroes from all walks of life risk their sanity to keep the world spinning as they face down eldritch nightmares, unholy rituals, kindly creatures, and monstrous humans. 4 seasons, 31 episodes as of Nov 09, 2022.

Who says online exhibitions aren't a thing anymore? Not us. Every semester, Callan Steinmann, our head of education and curator of academic and public programs works with University of Georgia students (either museum interns or Museum Studies students) on a pop-up exhibition of works from our collection. The works are on view for only one night, but we preserve the work these students do by turning the pop-up into a permanent show online.

Sabotage of European Arms Factories: Russia Entered a New Stage of Confrontation with the West: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/07/sabotage-of-european.html

Right, so, visualisations of Galloway
1. About 5,000 years after the ice has melted, with widespread forest;
2. About 5,000 years after that, after 200 generations of human settlement.
This is pure simulation, not actual data; but the land it shows as flooded is either still lochs and wetlands, or land we know has historically been drained. The areas of settlement are plausible, and map onto historical settlements.

Official live stream link for tonight’s #StateOfTheUnion speech
https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2024/

Researchers say they have unlocked a kind of sperm whale "alphabet" with the aid of machine learning, a breakthrough in understanding cetacean communication (Brian Heater/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/07/machine-…

Sperm whale ‘alphabet’ discovered, thanks to machine learning | TechCrunch
Researchers at MIT CSAIL and Project CETI believe that they have unlocked a kind of sperm whale "alphabet" with the aid of machine learning technologies.

Tim Cook is on the board of Nike.
Is it me, or is it a *huge* conflict of interest for corporate executives to be on the boards of other corporations? Things get especially complicated when they do cross-promotions or collaborations.
If I as a shareholder were paying an executive literally tens of millions of dollars per year, I think I’m justified to insist that they spend 100% of their professional attention on their one employer, and not on another, ostensibly unrelated corpo…

Tim Cook sports Nike sneakers custom made for the iPad launch
Despite all attention being on the new iPad Air and iPad Pro at the "Let Loose" event, Tim Cook wore a pair of Nike sneakers that were designed and made for him specifically for the launch.

Forgot to plug in the EV last night so a stop at the free electron station is in order. (run by the Dinosaur Juice Company that thinks it's my fault the world is burning 🔥)
The cold (-1°C) means a slower fast-charge (instead of going straight to 50KW it started at 30KW for 10min then 40KW after 15min, now 54KW after 20min) but it does mean a prettier view of the frosty field and snowy mountain behind. I'm basically looking in the exact opposite direction to the view out my dini…

I pushed v1.0.0 of Topfew: #software #oss

GitHub - timbray/topfew: Finds the field values (or combinations of values) which appear most often in a stream of records.
Finds the field values (or combinations of values) which appear most often in a stream of records. - timbray/topfew

The Bundestag will vote to provide Ukraine with the maximum number of Taurus
The German CDU/CSU parliamentary faction wants to re-vote the issue of transferring German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine .
The first parliamentary secretary of the faction, Torsten Frei, spoke about this in a commentary to the Rheinische Post . “The parliamentary faction of the CDU/CSU will put the issue of supplying the Taurus to a roll-call vote in the Bundestag next session week. Parliament must …

The Bundestag will vote to provide Ukraine with the maximum number of Taurus - Ukraine Today .org
Lyudmila Zhernovskaya18:43, 03/07/24 The meeting will take place next week. The CDU/CSU parliamentary faction wants to re-vote the issue of transferring German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine . The first parliamentary secretary of the faction, Torsten Frei, spoke about this in a commentary to the Rheinische Post . “The parliamentary faction of the CDU/CSU will put the issue of supplying […]

Exclusive [pretty sure it is known though]: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds 🫣
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/art…

“Severing the link between the impulse to read and the act of buying is existentially threatening for publishing. Generally, I’m in favour of the strategic use of platforms, but when the platform becomes king, that is usually to the disadvantage of the creator.”

Lizzy Kremer, David Higham Associates m.d. | ‘We are conscientious in our contract work and we’re proud of that’
As m.d. of the almost 90-year-old agency, Lizzy Kremer isn’t afraid of a little hard work and says what's crucial is "a keen sense of unseen advocacy and active engagement with publishers".

Our Love: Diary of a Prince - complete audiobook 🌹⭐❤️
Narrated queer romance audiobook | Total listening time: 3h 40m
A young artist in search of love records his experiences as a gay man in the 1700s of Italy. His world turns as he finds true love by chance. However, their forbidden passionate affair will come at a cost. Endure this journey of lov...

Our Love: Diary of a Prince - complete audiobook 🌹⭐❤️
Narrated queer romance audiobook | Total listening time: 3h 40m A young artist in search of love records his experiences as a gay man in the 1700s of Italy. His world turns as he finds true love by chance. However, their forbidden passionate affair will come at a cost. Endure this journey of love, hate, friendship, acceptance, and forgiveness. Written, produced, and narrated by a queer POC. 1 seasons, 10 episodes as of Apr 17, 2024.

Researchers say they have unlocked a kind of sperm whale "alphabet" with the aid of machine learning, a breakthrough in understanding cetacean communication (Brian Heater/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/07/machine-…

Sperm whale ‘alphabet’ discovered, thanks to machine learning | TechCrunch
Researchers at MIT CSAIL and Project CETI believe that they have unlocked a kind of sperm whale "alphabet" with the aid of machine learning technologies.

Laken Riley's parents decline State of The Union invite from antisemitic MAGA Congressman Mike Collins - National Zero
https://nationalzero.com/2024/03/06/laken-rileys-parents-decline-state-of-the-union-invite/

"In the past, climate change deniers accused scientists of exaggerating the threat of global warming. However, the evidence that is now emerging from Antarctica and other parts of the world makes it very clear that scientists did not exaggerate. Indeed, they very probably underrated by a considerable degree the threat that now faces humanity"

Powerful (I thought) narrative from Sabine Hossenfelder about why she’s no longer an employed-in-academia scientist and is instead a YouTuber: https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2024/04/how-i-fell-out-of-love-with-academia.html

How I fell out of love with academia
Science News, Physics, Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science

One of youngest Azovstal defenders killed on front lines: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/07/one-of-youngest.html

Tales of the Risen Tide 🏴‍☠️🐉🗡️
Narrated modern fantasy audiobook | On a map redrawn by the rampant sea-level rise of the twenty-second century, survivors war over the ruins of high-ground whilst pirates and slavers plague the vast new seas that surround them.
1 seasons, 33 episodes as of May 05, 2024.
https://www.<…

Tales of the Risen Tide 🏴‍☠️🐉🗡️
Narrated modern fantasy audiobook | On a map redrawn by the rampant sea-level rise of the twenty-second century, survivors war over the ruins of high-ground whilst pirates and slavers plague the vast new seas that surround them. 1 seasons, 33 episodes as of May 06, 2024.

A graph with data stretching back to 812 AD of the dates of peak cherry tree blossom in Kyoto, Japan.
The Earth’s warming trend is unmistakable — spring has been arriving sooner and sooner since ~1840 and the drop since the ’30s is, ooof
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher…

Day of the year with peak cherry tree blossom in Kyoto, Japan
The vertical axis shows the date of peak blossom, expressed as the number of days since 1st January. The timing of the peak cherry blossom is influenced by spring temperatures. Higher temperatures due to climate change have caused the peak blossom to gradually move earlier in the year since the early 20th century.

Living rurally raises the risk of intimate partner violence for women. The main risk factors are the same as in the city, but there are issues specific to the bush that have to be addressed: In rural Australia, everyone knows your business – so it’s harder for victims of violence to get help [ie everyone knows but nobody wants to intervene]

The Strategic Shouting of Biden’s State of the Union - The American Prospect
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-03-08-strategic-shouting-biden-state-of-the-union/

The Strategic Shouting of Biden’s State of the Union
Loud and proud, Biden dispelled the “lack of energy” issue while promoting an economics to which the GOP has no real rejoinder

An investigation finds a vast web of fake shops run from China touting designer brands that duped 800K people in Europe and the US into sharing personal data (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2…

Comparison between my simulated drainage for the Isle of Man and the actual on the ground river courses. This is getting pretty good. It isn't yet perfect, but promising!
This is work towards being able to create a complete naturalistic environment from either just a heightmap, or a combination of a heightmap, a rainfall map, and soil permeability map.
#GameDev

mw-engine/src/cljc/mw_engine/drainage.clj at develop · simon-brooke/mw-engine
The Microworld engine. Processes a world to create new states - simon-brooke/mw-engine

Many won’t have noticed, but the Fediverse “Trending” (called “# Explore” in the default Mastodon client) is pretty good these days. I use the phanpy.social client, and Trending is something that I now visit every day. Here’s a screenshot.
Something like this is an attachment point for alternative discovery algorithms, one of Bluesky’s more interesting features.

The state of Ukrainian Army in 2014: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/07/the-state-of.html

The prospect of a green energy source based on the power of the stars has received a boost after scientists set a world record for the amount of energy created by fusing atoms together.
Researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET), an experimental fusion reactor at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, generated 69 megajoules of energy over five seconds from a mere 0.2 milligrams of fuel in the final fusion experiment performed at the facility
The burst of energy, …

Ate part of his brain and *died*, you mean...
RFK Jr. says parasite ate part of his brain | The Hill
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4651051-rfk-jr-says-parasite-ate-part-of-his-brain/

RFK Jr. says parasite ate part of his brain
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said doctors told him a dead parasite ate part of his brain, after experiencing memory loss and brain fog in 2010. The New York Times reviewed a deposition of Kennedy from 2012 that detailed his experience with his symptoms and the dead parasite. The Times reported that Kennedy started dealing with…

Old Gods of Appalachia 🧑‍🌾🧺👹
Narrated horror anthology | A horror-anthology podcast set in the shadows of an Alternate Appalachia, a place where digging too deep into the mines was just the first mistake.
3 seasons, 50 episodes as of Jan 11, 2023.
https://www.theend.fyi/sho…

Old Gods of Appalachia 🧑‍🌾🧺👹
Narrated horror anthology | A horror-anthology podcast set in the shadows of an Alternate Appalachia, a place where digging too deep into the mines was just the first mistake. 3 seasons, 50 episodes as of Jan 12, 2023.

Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israel’s war in Gaza reached its half-year mark.
Organisers said about 100,000 people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed, Democracy Square, since mass protests against controversial judicial reforms last year.
Chanting “#elections

Sources: China has hacked a payroll system used by the UK's Ministry of Defence, targeting service personnel; names and bank details have been exposed (Sky News)
https://news.sky.com/story/china-hacked-ministry-of-defence-sky-news-learns-13…

China hacked Ministry of Defence, Sky News learns

Perspective of the 3 Major Reasons Which Have Lead us to this Current Security Turmoil: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/08/perspective-of-the.html

‘No one likes to think about that stuff’: Kilmer introduces continuity plan ahead of SOTU:
Washington Democrat wants to quickly fill vacancies, reduce incentive for political violence
https://rollcall.com/2024/03/07/thoughts-turn-cont…

Thoughts turn to the continuity of Congress ahead of SOTU
Rep. Derek Kilmer swears he’s still a fun hang, even if he keeps bringing up mass casualty events and the hypothetical collapse of Congress.

Today offered yet more evidence that🔸 Biden’s rejection of the Republicans’ supply-side economics🔸
-- in favor of investing in ordinary Americans
-- is paying off with #high #growth, #low

April 5, 2024
Today offered yet more evidence that Biden’s rejection of the Republicans’ supply-side economics in favor of investing in ordinary Americans is paying off with high growth, low unemployment, and strong wages. Today’s jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor for the month of March showed higher job growth than analysts anticipated. Instead of the 214,000 jobs expected, the U.S. added 303,000. The government also revised its estimate of job growth in January and February upward by a co…

Mahbod Moghadam, the controversial co-founder of Genius and Everipedia, passed away in March at age 41, according to a post on Genius attributed to his family (Connie Loizos/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/06/mahbo…

Mahbod Moghadam, who rose to fame as the cofounder of Genius, has died | TechCrunch
Mahbod Moghadam, the controversial, never-boring co-founder of Genius and Everipedia, as well as an angel investor, passed away last month at age 41 owing

‘We’re doing the best of anybody’: Powell delivers sunny economic outlook to Congress | The Hill
https://thehill.com/business/4516627-were-doing-the-best-of-anybody-powell-delivers-sunny-economic-outlook-to-co…

‘We’re doing the best of anybody’: Powell delivers sunny economic outlook to Congress
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sounded sunny about the outlook for the U.S. economy during two days of testimony on Capitol Hill, during which the risk of recession was barely mentioned and fears of an economic downturn had all but evaporated. “The economy is growing at a healthy, sustainable, solid, strong pace,” Powell said during…

Wake Of Corrosion 😱🔥🪖
Dramatized scifi series | Total listening time: 9h 45m
A UK-based audio drama set in a nightmare-ridden apocalyptic world. An unknown horror grips the country, forcing most of the remaining population into shelter. Tune into the broadcasts from Bunker A:12 and join Professor Ryan as he endeavour...
https://…

Wake Of Corrosion 😱🔥🪖
Dramatized scifi series | Total listening time: 9h 45m A UK-based audio drama set in a nightmare-ridden apocalyptic world. An unknown horror grips the country, forcing most of the remaining population into shelter. Tune into the broadcasts from Bunker A:12 and join Professor Ryan as he endeavours to find answers in the wreckage. The final season! 2 seasons, 21 episodes as of Jun 17, 2022.

Dear friends, this Sunday we are going to have our next walk in one of the forests of the Hoge Kempen National Park: https://benborges.xyz/2024/03/07/dear-friends-this.html

UK and US authorities identify and charge the leader of the LockBit ransomware gang, a 31-year-old Russian national; the US also issued sanctions against him (Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/07/us-u

US, UK police identify and charge Russian leader of LockBit ransomware gang | TechCrunch
U.S. and U.K. authorities accused Russian national Dmitry Khoroshev of being the mastermind behind the ransomware gang LockBit.

“I don’t like this reality,” Mike Johnson said. “Vladimir Putin is an evil war criminal.”
But he quickly added: “Vladimir Putin will not lose this war.”
That argument
— that the Russian president cannot be stopped so there’s no point in using American taxpayer dollars against him
— marks a new stage in the Republican Party’s growing acceptance of Russian expansionism in the age of Donald Trump.

The Republican Party is seeing a growing acceptance of Russian expansionism in the age of Donald Trump
Republicans have been softening their stance on Russia ever since Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election following Russian hacking of his Democratic opponents. There are several reasons for the shift. For one, Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding himself out as an international champion of conservative Christian values. As well, the GOP is growing increasingly skeptical of international entanglements. Then there's Trump’s own embrace of the Russian leader. Now the GOP’s ambi…

“I don’t like this reality,” Mike Johnson said. “Vladimir Putin is an evil war criminal.”
But he quickly added: “Vladimir Putin will not lose this war.”
That argument
— that the Russian president cannot be stopped so there’s no point in using American taxpayer dollars against him
— marks a new stage in the Republican Party’s growing acceptance of Russian expansionism in the age of Donald Trump.

The Republican Party is seeing a growing acceptance of Russian expansionism in the age of Donald Trump
Republicans have been softening their stance on Russia ever since Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election following Russian hacking of his Democratic opponents. There are several reasons for the shift. For one, Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding himself out as an international champion of conservative Christian values. As well, the GOP is growing increasingly skeptical of international entanglements. Then there's Trump’s own embrace of the Russian leader. Now the GOP’s ambi…

‘Rejection of Trump’: 1 in 5 Indiana GOP voters cast their ballot for Nikki Haley - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/rejection-of-trump-1-in-5-indiana-gop-voters-just-cast-their-ballot-for-nikki-haley/

‘Rejection of Trump’: 1 in 5 Indiana GOP voters cast their ballot for Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley dropped out of the 2024 presidential race exactly two months ago, and yet on Tuesday 128,000 Indiana GOP primary voters cast their ballot for the former Trump UN Ambassador instead of the presumptive Republican nominee."Unexpected warning signs for Trump in busy Indiana primary," reports...

Data highlight need to control cow outbreak to halt bird flu spread - STAT
https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/06/bird-flu-spread-study-of-h5n1-virus-infection-in-cows/?utm_campaign=rss

Study of cow tissues provides clues for unusual pattern of bird flu infections in dairy cattle
Location of receptors that flu viruses can attach to in cows may help explain pattern of illness in H5N1 bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle.

The United States has repatriated two dozen western citizens,
half of them Americans,
from Islamic State prison camps in north-eastern Syria
where tens of thousands have languished.
In a complex operation involving US agencies, Kuwait and pro-US Kurdish fighters,
the United States repatriated 11 US citizens, including five minors,
as well as a nine-year-old non-US sibling of an American, the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday
The ope…

State of the Union pitch: Bigger Medicare drug price negotiations - STAT
https://www.statnews.com/2024/03/06/medicare-drug-price-negotiation-state-of-the-union/

Biden to propose expanding Medicare drug price negotiation in State of the Union
President Biden wants to more than double the size of Medicare’s new drug price negotiation program, he'll say in his State of the Union address Thursday.

Why is the Press Making Trump Seem More Normal?
Yes, a presidential candidate just accused the sitting President of the United States of delivering the State of the Union address while high on cocaine.

I’m guessing that unless you listened to the Friday episode of Pod Save America, most of you are learning this information for the first time.
And it's not because you aren’t avid consumers of news. It’s because the traditional political media decided to ignore thi…

Why is the Press Making Trump Seem More Normal?
Believe it or not, much of the political press has an inadvertent pro-Trump bias

With an exceptionally large turnout, protests against the far-right Netanyahu government took place across Israel’s major cities on Saturday, May 4.
Demonstrators demanded the government negotiate a hostage deal, early elections, and the end of the war in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Beersheva Saturday night.
Other demonstrations were held in Kfar Sava, Caesarea, Nahariya, Herzliya, Eilat, Carmiel, Rehovot, Mod…

Mass Israel protests accuse Netanyahu of ‘torpedoing’ ceasefire and hostage release deals
TEL AVIV—With an exceptionally large turnout, protests against the far-right Netanyahu government took place across Israel’s major cities on Saturday, May 4. Demonstrators demanded the government negotiate a hostage deal, early elections, and the end of the war in Gaza.

The House passed a $460 billion package of spending bills Wednesday that would keep money flowing to key federal agencies through the remainder of the budget year.
The Senate is expected to take up the legislation before a midnight Friday #shutdown #deadline.
Lawmakers are negotiating a

House passes $460 billion package of spending bills
The House has passed a $460 billion package of spending bills that would keep money flowing to key federal agencies through the remainder of the budget year. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation before a midnight Friday shutdown deadline. And lawmakers are negotiating a second package of six bills, including defense. A significant number of House Republicans opposed the first measure, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson to use an expedited process to bring the bill up for a vote. Jo…

Renewable energy passes 30% of world’s electricity supply
Renewable energy accounted for more than 30% of the world’s electricity for the first time last year
following a rapid rise in wind and solar power, according to new figures.
A report on the global power system has found that the world may be on the brink of driving down fossil fuel generation,
even as overall demand for electricity continues to rise.
Clean electricity has already helped to slow the growt…

Opinion: Congress has already disqualified Trump from the ballot
Opinion by Tristan Snell
This may come as a shock. When, one might ask, did Congress ever hold such votes?
Those votes came in the second impeachment of Trump, in January and February of 2021, in which majorities of both the House and the Senate backed an article of impeachment against Trump for “incitement of insurrection.”
This was a finding of fact, by majorities of our elected representatives, after …

‘Hopeless and broken’:
Why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair
A poll of hundreds of scientists finds
our planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity.
The world’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target

President Biden delivered an energetic and impassioned speech that was as much a campaign kickoff as it was a State of the Union, leveraging what is expected to be one of his largest audiences of the year to make a forceful case that he was fit enough for another four years.
https://www.

5 Takeaways From Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address
Verbal swings at Donald Trump, though not by name. A spirited back-and-forth with G.O.P. lawmakers. And a loud and feisty delivery.

Trump has made no secret of his intentions.
Over the course of his campaign, he has outlined a radical program of protectionism, calling for a phaseout of all “essential goods” from China, as well as a ban on investments in China and on federal contracts for any company that outsources labor to China.
All of this would be concerning enough for American business. But Trump has also proposed a 10 percent tariff on all imported goods, which would amount to the declaration of a globa…

Why a Second Trump Term Could Be Bad for Corporate America
Despite his populist promises, many bigwigs are keeping the faith that it couldn’t really happen here.