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| "No more Tim-mahs?" |
Particular attention is given to the families of billionaires hoping to bring kids along for a world-hopping adventure.Must be a tough life.
[.]
“They want their children to see some real life, but in a safe and secure way,” [said Tom Barber, founder of London-based travel agency Original Travel], so that his clients can show their children “how real people live.”
— Mocha (@Mochaq2k) December 20, 2018
GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel issued a statement supporting President Donald Trump and challenging her uncle, Utah Sen.-elect Mitt Romney, on Wednesday morning.Without John McCain and Jeff Flake, someone has to take up the (ahem...) moral compass (cough, cough, hack). Leave it to Mitt.
McDaniel’s tweet came less than 12 hours after Romney wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post that spoke out against Trump.
[.]
“What is interesting is that [Romney's op/ed] was sent to a national news organization. He was clearly attempting to address the nation and the world in some way. Before his first official day on the job Mitt Romney is already shaping the conversation in Washington,” [said] Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.
The new era is characterised by inefficient fossil fuel production and escalating costs of climate change. Conventional capitalist economic thinking can no longer explain, predict or solve the workings of the global economy in this new age.- - -
[.]
British economics journalist Paul Mason's...digital uprising is projected to consume evermore vast quantities of energy (as much as one-fifth of global electricity by 2025), producing 14 per cent of global carbon emissions by 2040.
[.]
... the driving force of the transition to postcapitalism is the end of the age that made endless growth capitalism possible in the first place: the age of abundant, cheap energy.
Here are equivalent concepts: Technocracy, Sustainable Development, Green Economy, Natural Capitalism. All of this is a grand deception[.]- - -
[.]
It is a scam to twist the economic resources of the world out of your hands and give them to the global elite. It is a power grab to take over all means of production while dictating to you what you are allowed to consume. It is a Scientific Dictatorship designed to control you, your thoughts, your behavior, your consumption and your family from cradle to cradle.
In the US, the September 2018 National Cyber Strategy adopted an aggressive stance, promising to "deter and if necessary punish those who use cyber tools for malicious purposes."Cybersecurity in 2019. Tech Crunch:
[.]
"The [Trump] Administration recognizes that the United States is engaged in a continuous competition against strategic adversaries, rogue states, and terrorist and criminal networks. Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea all use cyberspace as a means to challenge the United States, its allies, and partners, often with a recklessness they would never consider in other domains."
Expect more data leaks and exposures — but not just breaches.- - -
California’s privacy rules will come to a head.
Brexit will hamper U.K. tech, startup growth.
Australia’s draconian encryption laws will begin to hurt.
Soli is a new sensing technology that uses miniature radar to detect touchless gesture interactions.FCC Approves Google Gesture Tracking Soli. The Register:
Soli sensor technology works by emitting electromagnetic waves in a broad beam. Objects within the beam scatter this energy, reflecting some portion back towards the radar antenna. Properties of the reflected signal, such as energy, time delay, and frequency shift capture rich information about the object’s characteristics and dynamics, including size, shape, orientation, material, distance, and velocity.
...Google has received an exemption from the Federal Communication Commission that will allow the ad biz to run the system at higher power levels than regulations currently allow.- - -
Project Soli sensors consist of hardware capable of tracking hand gestures or objects in a specific area of space.
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| Image from UberGizmo |
According to posters on Reddit, this Jeep Wrangler was crushed when the electric garage malfunctioned due to the control unit getting flooded. This tripped the power which presumably knocked out all of the sensors which would have prevented this to happen. The malfunctioning garage kept raising the lift even as the Jeep struck the roof and was crushed.- - -
EdgeHTML, in part because of its lackadaisical upgrade cadence, was rarely able to catch up, or if it did, maintain equality, with Chrome in properly rendering pages or rendering them at speed.- - -
Wi-Fi 6 will have a single-user data rate that is 37% faster than 802.11ac, but what's more significant is that the updated specification will offer four times the throughput per user in crowded environments, as well as better power efficiency which should translate to a boost in device battery life.- - -
[.]
When Wi-Fi 6 is launched in full, the specification will be backward compatible with previous standards, incorporating both 2.4GHz and 5GHz along with eventually expanding that spectrum to include bands in 1GHz and 6GHz when they become available.
An increasing number of apps and websites are gaining dark modes, often simply for the sake of aesthetics, but also because of power-saving considerations.- - -
The USB Type-C Authentication solution will include: a standard protocol of authentication for USB Type-C chargers, devices, cables, and power sources; support for authenticating over either USB data bus or USB power delivery communications channels; [and several other reasons].- - -
The yawn-inspiring personal assistant Facebook M stopped working in January after a general launch in April 2017. Lastly, Yahoo Messenger, one of the last remaining classic instant messengers, went away in July. Messenger outlasted its more notable rivals, AOL’s AIM (1997-2017) and MSN/Windows Live Messenger (1999-2012).
Senator Bernie Sanders has said he was not aware of allegations of sexism and pay discrimination that occurred during his insurgent campaign for president in 2016[.]
[.]
Asked during an interview on CNN if he was aware of the claims at the time, Sanders replied that he was not.
“I was a little bit busy running around the country trying to make the case,” he said.
WWE legend 'Mean' Gene Okerlund has died aged 76 sparking a flooding of tributes as he was remembered as the voice that defined an era of wrestling.From MSN:
Okerlund got his start with the American Wrestling Association, where interviewed the likes of Jesse “The Body” Ventura — who gave him his “Mean Gene” moniker — Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and [Hulk] Hogan. Okerlund became a staple on national cable TV after he made the move to the WWE, where he had notable interviews with “Macho Man” Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior, among many others.The Denver Post:
He was “a voice and sound track to an entire era of our industry,” WWE’s Triple H tweeted Wednesday morning.
[.]
Okerlund’s career spanned decades, taking him from the American Wrestling Association to the then-World Wrestling Federation to World Championship Wrestling.
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| Mean Gene; 1942-2019 |
...we asked Psychic Nikki to shed some light on the year ahead. This is what she sees for the the coming year.Psychic Nikki's site states, "THIS IS SOMETHING THAT NOT EVERYONE CAN LEARN TO DO."
"The world will still be a tumultuous place[.]"
[...]
"[T]he stock market is going to be up and down."
[...]
"Extreme weather events will continue...The weather is very mixed up."
[...]
“People want to be happier.”
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| Nikki. PTTS. |
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| Picture: Caters |
Things appear to have got a little bit too out of hand for some people taking part in the world’s biggest party. Spilling out of clubs and parties up and down the country, these pictures show it’s not going to start off as a very Happy New Year.Hit the link, check out the images. Glad those days are long gone for me. Looooooooong gone.
Tribune Publishing -- which owns the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers impacted -- reported the attack to the FBI on Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.Global News: Cyberattack responsible for delays in newspaper distribution.
The cyberattack appeared to originate outside the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.SBS News: Sophisticated cyberattack hits U.S. newspapers.
[...]
“There is no evidence that customer credit card information or personally identifiable information has been compromised,” [said Tribune Publishing spokeswoman Marisa Kollias, explaining] the virus hurt back-office systems used to publish and produce “newspapers across our properties.”
The computer problem shut down a number of crucial software systems that store news stories, photographs and administrative information, and made it difficult to create the plates used to print the papers at The Times' downtown plant.This attack on U.S. newspapers must be the work of Trump and Russia/Putin or Trump and North Korea/Kimmy Junior. Good for him/them.
Three students face felony charges of making a terroristic threat for posting online two brief videos where they act out a school shooting in someone’s house.Is the video protected under the First Amendment or is the sheriff's interpretation of the video consistent within the context of preventing a potential threat?
[...]
Content disturbing to others is present in a lot of content. Just because this dramatization happened to be produced by students and distributed by Instagram doesn't somehow entitle it to less First Amendment protection than a motion picture released by a major studio.
[...]
Sheriff Craig Apple's speech -- as moronic as it is -- is also protected by the same First Amendment he won't extend to these students.
“There’s been enough shootings going on around the country. This is despicable artistic expression, if that’s what it was.”
[Facebook moderators are advised] that any post degrading an entire religion violates Indian law and should be flagged for removal.- - -
[Another instructs moderators] to "look out for" the phrase "Free Kashmir" - though the slogan, common among activists, is completely legal.
"There may be good reasons to decentralize the grid through ubiquitous installation of small RES [Residential Energy Storage], but cost-effective emissions control is not one of them at the moment," the researchers write.- - -
AI invents New Year fireworks names that sound more like the end of humanity.Yikes! Machine Blinking Display and Original Cat Pix Budget 2 Boom. Run Away ! Run Away !
[...]
Flaming Thundersplont Box
Red flashing cake
Machine Blinking Display
Black Moo
Original Cat Pix Budget 2 Boom
- - -...wind turbines are rather loud and robins have to adapt. In these areas where wind turbines are present, robins drop their lower pitch and go for the trademark puffed up red chest instead. Little birds cannot compete against the low hum of the wind turbine blades.
WccfTech: Here comes Win 10 forced update v 1809....the October 2018 Update has been the most problematic and buggy update ever released for Microsoft’s OS, outdoing even the infamous Anniversary Update.
[.]
Another major development for Microsoft in 2018 was that the firm finally admitted that it had got things wrong with the default web browser for Windows 10. The company has been pushing hard with Edge for a good while now, but to no avail[.]
- - -We are still waiting for user reports to see if they have experienced any Windows 10 forced updates over the last few days. But, if you want to avoid Windows 10 version 1809, it would be wise to block it to avoid any surprises.
- - -Earlier this year [Tesla] reportedly sought hundreds of employees to test its full-driving system and offered free Autopilot upgrade with new purchases.
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| Ford "Super Duty" |
...a new report claims [the deal was killed] due to government prodding. According to sources, officials were concerned about Huawei installing WiFi service in Washington, DC.- - -
Authorities charged Matthew Gatrel, 30, of St. Charles, Ill, and Juan Martinez, 25, of Pasadena, Calif., with conspiring to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act through the operation of their DDoS-for-hire services sites known as Down them and Ampnode.- - -
According to the release, Downthem’s database showed over 2000 customer subscriptions, and had been used to conduct, or attempt to conduct, over 200,000 DDoS attacks which were carried out between October 2014 and November 2018.
It took seven miles to pull over a Tesla with a seemingly asleep driver.
Gmail.com redesign leaks, looks pretty incredible. (No, it doesn't. Gmail sucks. That's a 5,000-word, well, 4,995-word, post I'll never write.)
Elon Musk built a “submarine” to rescue Thailand kids—here’s what it looks like.
Study: people tend to cluster into four distinct personality “types”.Yes, we all need to work at being more "cluster-diverse."
Both history and current politics are on Trump’s side in this standoff. There’s no reason he shouldn’t dig in for the holiday season and wait for the Democrats to offer a compromise he can live with.Dig in, President Trump. Dig in!
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| Quote: Herb Brooks |
Perishable goods, such as vegetables from the Netherlands or fruit from Spain, could be held up at the border, if tough checks are imposed or the EU limits trade, said the report.- - -
Alexander: "I will not vote to turn the Senate into a rule-breaking institution."
Flake: "The Senate filibuster is about the only mechanism left in Washington that brings the parties together. Deploying the nuclear option would blow that up."
Market Watch: Federal services affected by a shutdown.“The action is over on the House side. We are waiting to see what they do,” [said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell], referring to the upcoming vote on the new continuing resolution.
The House's continuing resolution is the same Senate spending bill that passed last night, but it includes a new amendment, according to multiple GOP aides.The clock ticks...
The amendment includes:
$5 billion in new money for the border wall for the rest of the fiscal year but to remain available until Sept. 30, 2023.
$7.81 billion in disaster funds through Sept. 30, 2019 in the aftermath of widespread wildfires and hurricanes Michael and Florence.
...such an abrupt withdrawal is precisely the kind of mistake President Barack Obama made in Iraq — leaving an enormous vacuum for Russia, Iran and extremist groups to fill and abdicating any US influence in the area.- - -
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act would place a $15 fee on each metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted.The E-I-C-D-A (You know Flake is itching to use that) is the "We Didn't Listen" argument.
The fee would rise by $10 each year, and all of its net revenues would be given back to taxpayers as a monthly dividend.
Surging borrowing costs for companies in the US and Europe threaten a recession within months and resemble events leading up to the global credit "heart attack" in August 2007.- - -
Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana -- who have each held the top job in the impoverished country before -- declared themselves winners in the run-off which analysts warned was likely to draw claims of fraud.Only the Dems would assure us of no election fraud. As long as they win.
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| "Look, in that car! It's Jeff Goldblum!" "Who?" |
- - -There has been a 10 million vehicle increase from 2012 to 2017 at Los Angeles International Airport, much of that starting in 2015 when the city gave services like Uber and Lyft the green light[.]
A devastating report from the New York Times suggests that Facebook has been playing fast and loose with its users' privacy, giving special access to more than 150 high-profile companies, including Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.The BBC: Facebook's data sharing secrets exposed.
"Time and again Facebook has been unable to clearly and in plain language explain to people how the company is collecting, storing, sharing, and retaining people's data," a spokeswoman for Privacy International told the BBC.- - -
Jeremy Corbyn was forced to deny calling Theresa May a "stupid woman" as the final prime minister's questions of the year sparked a heated row over misogyny.Lincolnshire Live - Lipreader says maybe Corbyn did call her that, or didn't.
However, a lip reader from Lincoln Joanne Hunter has given her verdict on what she thinks he said.The Irish Examiner: 99 Days Til Brexit.
She said: "I have looked at his lipreading and there are two words. I think he said...(Argh! The Suspense. You'll have to read the story).
China has arrested a third Canadian national, Ottawa said Wednesday -- a move that comes amid an already tense diplomatic spat with Beijing over the arrest of a Chinese telecom executive.- - -
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau however emphasized that the arrest did not seem to be linked to a former diplomat and an entrepreneur held for allegedly endangering China's national security.
"We are looking into the details (but) this most recent one doesn't seem to fit the pattern set by the previous two," Trudeau told a press conference.
Claas Relotius, 33, a staff writer known for vivid investigative stories. The magazine said Relotius resigned on Monday after admitting some of his articles included made-up material from interviews that never happened.Claas...Coming Soon on CNN!
A police helicopter was called in after two unmanned drones were reportedly sighted near a runway, forcing the airport to halt all flights and warn of possible knock-on disruption on Thursday.Fox News - Mom and daughter arrested; attempted to send contraband to prison using drone:
A mother and daughter who police said were "hoping to spread some holiday cheer" were arrested and accused of flying a drone packed with...tobacco and cellphones to [wait for it]...[the husband/father of the wife/daughter].Give 'em a break. It's Christmas.
Microsoft adopting Chromium puts the Web in a perilous place.A must-read. Also: Google evil? You have no idea. - InfoWorld, March 2014
And more.The end of the password
Increased regulation
IoT risks
The African grey parrot, however, is something of an exception to the rule. Interestingly enough, a 2012 study published in The Royal Society found that the grey parrot has cognitive thinking skills in some areas that are on the same level as a three-year old human child.And then, there's this parrot.
Once the Internet Research Agency got outed on Facebook and Twitter, Instagram became the new haven for Russia's disinformation campaign.- - -
That's the takeaway from two comprehensive reports Monday on Russia's social media manipulation efforts. One is from researchers at New Knowledge, a cybersecurity firm, and the other is from researchers at Oxford University's Computational Propaganda Research Project and Graphika.
As of last week, however, Brave relies on the Chromium UI. In plainer words, Brave has gone "full-Chromium."- - -
BlackBerry this week introduced its new Security Credential Management System.- - -
[.]
Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry,...undertook development of this technology to provide the critical infrastructure for vehicles and traffic lights to exchange information securely.
[.]
The company likely hopes to gain the trust of automakers, as well as local governments that are involved in the development of smart city infrastructure.
As soon as it’s opened, a custom-built spinning tub flings ridiculously fine glitter in every direction...A few seconds later comes a blast of canned fart spray. Or, I should say, the first blast of canned fart spray[.]See the video at the link.
Noel Casler allegedly worked in talent logistics [and claims], [President Trump], "... gets nervous and he crushes up these pills. That's why he's sniffing when you see him in debates, and when you see him reading."- - -
Monday brought few signs of progress in solving a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over keeping the government open. A partial shutdown that could occur at midnight Friday[.]
- - -Twitter observed a large amount of traffic to the customer support site coming from individual internet IP addresses in China and Saudi Arabia.
"While we cannot confirm intent or attribution for certain, it is possible that some of these IP addresses may have ties to state-sponsored actors," the blog said.
Russia’s sweeping political disinformation campaign on US social media was more far-reaching than originally thought, with troll farms working to discourage black voters and “blur the lines between reality and fiction”[.]This story will never make sense to me. How is the above any different from me (or any other blogger or writer, or group of,) writing a factual, fictional, or embellished blog entry on Hillary Clinton, or Theresa May or any other public figure seeking office? Unless people have more faith in social media than I ever thought possible and they really believe that "it must be true, I read it on the internets."
Goldman Sachs has been hit with fraud charges in Malaysia after allegedly helping to pillage £2.1 billion from a sovereign wealth fund.- - -
[.]
It is the latest twist in a saga which has been catastrophic for Goldman's reputation, with shares down over a third this year. The stock was hit again yesterday, dropping nearly 3 per cent in New York.
In the event of a major backlog at the Port of Dover, 50 miles away, this stretch of highway would become a temporary truck park.The Herald-Scotland - Corbyn increases pressure on Theresa May with no-confidence vote:
What kind of calamity might cause such a monstrous snarl-up?
In a word, Brexit.
Jeremy Corbyn has sought to pile the pressure on Theresa May by tabling a no-confidence vote in her[.]The Scotsman - May dares Labour to topple government:
Theresa May has dared Labour to try and topple her government after she announced the Commons would not vote on her proposed Brexit deal until the middle of January[.]- - -
Anti-government protests in Hungary hit the country's public broadcaster on Monday, with the opposition galvanised by the furious reaction to a controversial new labour law.
[.]
MPs had demanded access to the studios to read out a petition against the government and what they call its "slave" labour law.
MTVA security guards forcibly ejected independent MPs Akos Hadhazy and Bernadett Szel, sparking criticism online.
A man attacked Blackhawks mascot Tommy Hawk in a United Center concourse Friday during the team’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Jets at the United Center.View the fight here. Remember to enable the volume.
[.]
“Look out for the children,” the man exclaims as the Blackhawks mascot suplexes him to the floor in front of three other people. Tommy Hawk then attempts to control the man on the ground before putting him in a headlock and driving him into a trash receptacle in front of a Blackhawks team store.
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| Tommy Hawk; Climate Change made him do it. |
What would you pick?In the 9mm category, HK's VP9 is darn nice and gets rave reviews. Gun Advice:
Wilson Combat Tactical Carry
Ed Brown Executive Carry
Glock 21
Heckler & Koch HK45
Springfield Armory XD45 Mod 2 Service Model
It’s hard to be mad at the HK VP9 because it’s so tough and beautiful. The ergonomics are outstanding and the accuracy admirable. Overall, the gun seems to be rock-solid and dependable. Not many things can be said against it unless you don’t like some of the design choices HK made. You can either love or hate the paddle-style magazine release or the loaded chamber indicator.
One thing’s for certain – the trigger is one of the best ones you will find within a striker pistol.
