David135
13 hours ago
Name names. Produce emails of all WH and Fed emails employees who were pressuring him and his company. Give them to the Taibbi gang to sort through. That would help a little.

bpbatch David135
12 hours ago
Yep, this. Musk put himself in danger with the Biden regime by exposure through the Twitter Files. Commission a "Facebook Files" type investigation and let the cards fall where they may, despite the political outcome. Do this, and I'll trust Zuck more, otherwise he's proving he's moving towards the constitutional right only for financial reasons and to save FB from the overturning of Section 230. //

veritaseequitas
2 hours ago
A) He must be losing money
B) He will change back if and when the Communist Democrats get back in office
C) He's a wuss who was too afraid to be a trail blazer. //

Mark Clancey
10 hours ago
What Could Mark Zuckerberg Do to Convince People He's Turned Into a Defender of Liberty?
Get on his knees and beg God and this nation for forgiveness that he spent $450 million to rig and steal the 2020 election. Until then he's just a garden variety Marxist twerp looking for secular salvation that will not come. //

Political-Paige
42 minutes ago edited
A tale of two billionaires.

Faced with the exact same pressures, Zuckerberg censored, lied, undermined a presidential election, and sentenced us to 4 years of national rot, while Musk spent 44 billion dollars of his own money to restore free speech across the globe and brought us back from the brink.

Set to be killed by Trump, the rules mostly lock in existing trends. //

The net result of a number of Supreme Court decisions is that greenhouse gasses are pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and the EPA needed to determine whether they posed a threat to people. George W. Bush's EPA dutifully performed that analysis but sat on the results until its second term ended, leaving it to the Obama administration to reach the same conclusion. The EPA went on to formulate rules for limiting carbon emissions on a state-by-state basis, but these were rapidly made irrelevant because renewable power and natural gas began displacing coal even without the EPA's encouragement.

Nevertheless, the Trump administration replaced those rules with ones designed to accomplish even less, which were thrown out by a court just before Biden's inauguration. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court stepped in to rule on the now-even-more-irrelevant Obama rules, determining that the EPA could only regulate carbon emissions at the level of individual power plants rather than at the level of the grid.

All of that set the stage for the latest EPA rules, which were formulated by the Biden administration's EPA. Forced by the court to regulate individual power plants, the EPA allowed coal plants that were set to retire within the decade to continue to operate as they have. Anything that would remain operational longer would need to either switch fuels or install carbon capture equipment. Similarly, natural gas plants were regulated based on how frequently they were operational; those that ran less than 40 percent of the time could face significant new regulations. More than that, and they'd have to capture carbon or burn a fuel mixture that is primarily hydrogen produced without carbon emissions.

Starship will test its payload deployment mechanism on its seventh test flight. //

blackhawk887 Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
8y
18,175
Keith Tanner said:
2.7 megawatts of electrical power! It's running the computers, the gimbal actuators and the flaps. Anything else?
Mostly flaps. They need to apply a lot of torque at a high speed, which means lots of power.

2.7 MW isn't really that much, though, except for the fact that it's electric power. Each Raptor turbopump puts out 75 MW of shaft power, and each Raptor combustion chamber puts out 7,000 MW of thermal power.

During boost, Starship's thermal power output is roughly equal to half the entire United States' average electric generation power output.

Since those initial reports were published in Western media, a small band of dedicated space trackers have been using open source data to try to identify precisely which space object fell into Kenya. So far, they have not been able to identify the rocket launch to which the large ring can be attributed.

Now, some space trackers believe the object may not have come from space at all. //

However, an anonymous X account using the handle DutchSpace, which despite the anonymity has provided reliable information about Ariane launch vehicles in the past, posted a thread that indicates this ring could not have been part of the SYLDA shell. With images and documentation, it seems clear that neither the diameter nor mass of the SYLDA component matches the ring found in Kenya.

Additionally, Arianespace officials told Le Parisien newspaper on Thursday that they do not believe the space debris was associated with the Ariane V rocket. Essentially, if the ring does not fit, you must acquit.

So what was it?

Months later, according to the SFC, AVM provided all the relevant source code and scripts, but the suit continued. AVM ultimately paid Steck's attorney fee. The case proved, once again, that not only are source code requirements real, but the LGPL also demands freedom, despite its "Lesser" name, and that source code needs to be useful in making real changes to firmware—in German courts, at least.

"The favorable result of this lawsuit exemplifies the power of copyleft—granting users the freedom to modify, repair, and secure the software on their own devices," the SFC said in a press release. "Companies like AVM receive these immense benefits themselves. This lawsuit reminded AVM that downstream users must receive those very same rights under copyleft.". //

At the top is perhaps the best-known case in tech circles, the Linksys WRT54G conflict from 2003. While the matter was settled before a lawsuit was filed, negotiations between Linksys owner Cisco and a coalition led by the Free Software Foundation, publisher of the GPL and LGPL, made history. It resulted in the release of all the modified and relevant GPL source code used in its hugely popular blue-and-black router.

The backstory, such as it exists from reports and retrospectives, is that Cisco bought Linksys, Linksys outsourced certain chipset development to Broadcom, and Broadcom outsourced firmware development to an overseas developer. Everybody up the chain ended up with a lawsuit once people started looking.

Cisco made history yet again in 2007 when it was the first entity to be actually sued by the FSF over GPL violations, which started in 2003 and continued to come up with new hardware products. Cisco settled the case with the FSF in 2009, making a donation to the FSF and appointing a Free Software Director at the company to keep track of its licensing obligations.

LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) CEO Janisse Quiñones has repeatedly claimed during press conferences that her utility did everything it could to prepare for the forecasted wind event and support the Los Angeles Fire Department as it responded, but left out one key fact: the Santa Ynez Reservoir in the hills above Pacific Palisades, which holds 117 million gallons of water and normally feeds those tanks, had been drained and taken offline for repairs to its cover even though the state's brush fire season was ongoing. //

A LADWP spokesperson said in a statement to the LA Times that the utility was "still evaluating the effect of the reservoir being placed offline, and that staffers were conducting a root-cause analysis." The spokesperson added, “Our primary focus is to provide water supply throughout the city. The system was never designed for a wildfire scenario that we are experiencing.”

Why not? The system, at least in the Palisades, is in an area where a suburban area adjoins rural, difficult-to-access mountains and canyons, and where wildfire risk is often high. //

Anon, good nurse!
10 hours ago
This all boils down to 117 million gallons of water to fight a raging wildfire rather than 3 million, right? Like, it seems like a lot of words to avoid the obvious fact that 117 is a lot more than 3....
Also, whatever happened to "if it saves one life...."? Are we not doing that anymore?

JohnV1787 Anon, good nurse!
9 hours ago
I was thinking that too. Maybe the water pressure, uphill pumping and other physics don't make it possible to keep those 3 tanks perfectly filled all of the time, but you could fill them 35 times with a full reservoir. That extra water could have done something...maybe not extinguish the raging fire completely but perhaps dampen areas enough that it couldn't spread farther and do more damage. The dismissive attitude that it wouldn't have mattered anyway must really grate on those poor people who just lost their homes and businesses and wish that the fire department at least had the chance to try.

With this announcement, Meta becomes the third major corporation to bail out of the burning DEI airplane since Trump was reelected. Walmart terminated its DEI programs in late November, and McDonalds dropped its programs Tuesday. They join a growing list of companies deciding DEI is terrible for business since the US presidential election season got underway:

Boeing — November, 2024
Toyota — October 2024
Harley-Davidson — August 2024
Caterpillar — September 2024
Stanley Black & Decker — September 2024
Brown-Forman — September 2024
Molson Coors — September 2024
Lowe's — August 2024
Ford — August 2024
John Deere — July 2024
Tractor Supply — June 2024

For more than 40 years Advantech has enabled businesses to embrace new technology and accelerate industrial intelligence. Advantech is a global leader of embedded and automation solution platforms, renowned for manufacturing high-performance hardware and software computing components. With more than 92 offices and 9,000 employees worldwide, Advantech has its sights set on enabling an intelligent planet.

According to the SFC, GPL/LGPL lawsuits have tended to focus on copyright enforcement, but Steck's claim was about user rights. "There is now no doubt that both GPL and LGPL mandate the device owner's ability to make changes to the software in the flash memory so those changes persist across reboots," the SFC said. //

Denver Gingerich, director of compliance for the SFC, told The Register that this is the first time to his knowledge that the LGPL has been successfully litigated.

"The AVM lawsuit is an excellent example of how users can make practical use of the courts to receive the freedoms owed to them by the companies that sell devices to them," he said. //

50 mins
rgjnk
Reply Icon
Re: Stretching
The LGPL might mean the manufacturer have to publish their modifications to the source code but that's still not "mandate the device owner's ability to make changes to the software in the flash memory so those changes persist across reboots"

The GPL license doesn't even come close to what's claimed there, especially what's very specifically described.

They apparently claim a right to be able to reflash a device and the GPL has nothing to do with that. An implemented right to repair may grant that in various forms (often in reality very limited by other legislative concerns) but the GPL is about the 'source code' only and nothing more.

I can only hope something has got lost in translation from German and they didn't actually say anything about a mandate at all. //

hr
PyLETS
Choice of jurisdiction and distributors
In this case a German developer went though German courts to get redress from a German company. Not all software access claims will be so easy in relation to local law where the manufacturer operates. However, for consumer electronics containing free software with enforceable licenses, these apply to distributors also, and effective cease and desist demands against distributors until conditions are met will force the manufacturers hand if distributors decline to distribute the offending product otherwise.

When I first heard that Donald Trump was talking about reacquiring the Panama Canal, I thought, "He's just trolling the world." Now that I realize he isn't, I thought I'd better bone up on the subject. //

Now, I was completely oblivious to that fact and learned that CK Hutchinson, a company moored up pretty tightly to the CCP, runs two port facilities located at each end of the canal. In 1997, they initiated a deal with the Panamanian government (two years before the US fully handed over the canal) to manage them.

Apparently, they have no plans to go anywhere. And this is a problem because Beijing is not our friend. //

Now, you have to remember that China always has a plan, and they don't do anything without forethought. And as they have become increasingly belligerent over the past 20 years at least, one has to assume that putting down roots in Panama, a global choke point, serves a purpose for Beijing. I doubt that purpose has any sort of goodwill for us. //

What I do know is that if China shut down the canal to us, we'd be going to war unless the plan is to shut down the canal once they actually invade Taiwan. I doubt they'd ever do it beforehand. That would sort of be like expecting Egypt to sit on its hands if the Sudanese ever dammed up the Nile. //

the Chinese are in the canal zone in an official capacity; they're there for a reason, and they have become increasingly belligerent on the world front over the years, so it's safe to assume that reason doesn't bode well for us as the largest user of the canal. I believe Donald Trump recognizes this. I don't think he's trolling. I think he is forewarning.

And I think he should.

This is what folks coming together in a time of need and when first responder resources are stretched thin looks like. If all these fires were intentionally started and if this guy was indeed the person (or one of the people) responsible for them, then these residents have saved the day - and their city. At the very least, if the description of what went down before they nabbed him is correct, they saved their neighborhood

Well done, Woodland Hills, well done.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky – Northern Division blocked President Joe Biden’s Title IX rewrite, known as the Final Rule. The ruling applies nationwide.

“Because the Final Rule and its corresponding regulations exceed the Department’s authority under Title IX, violate the Constitution, and are the result of arbitrary and capricious agency action, the plaintiffs’ motions for summary judgment will be granted and the Department’s motion for summary judgment will be denied,” wrote the Court. //

The Final Rule had gender identity, sexual orientation, and sex characteristics.

The Department refused to provide a narrow definition of “sex” “to avoid overbroad application of a prohibition on discrimination based on sex stereotypes.” //

The Court stressed that Title IX’s phrase “on the basis of sex” means exactly what it says when Title IX became law: Sex is female or male. Title IX protects human beings born female. Basic biology! //

The Department of Education also threatened to punish those who refuse to use a person’s preferred name or pronouns.

Well, the Court ruled that violated the First Amendment //

The Final Rule violated the Constitution’s Spending Clause since it threatened to withhold funds from schools that did not abide by the rewrite.

Legislation must satisfy a four-prong test to limit federal funds.

The Court found the Final Rule did not satisfy the fourth prong: “the conditions must not induce unconstitutional action.”. //

Bruce Hayden | January 9, 2025 at 3:34 pm
I find interesting the use of vacatur, which, by necessity, is nationwide. If a regulation violates the APA, and is thus void, it makes no sense for it to be void in just the ED of KY. Void is void, and that is what the APA calls for.

This is in contrast to nationwide injunctions issued by a single district court. How does a single district court, in a single district in a single state have the power to issue a nationwide injunction? It doesn’t typically have jurisdiction over most of the parties involved. The use of nationwide injunctions had grown enormously over the last decade or two, and became increasingly controversial by its overreach, esp in suits pushed by the left. Vacatur of regulations subject to the APA is more defensive in nature, merely preventing the government from imposing non-compliant regulations.

On the first day of the new year, HackerDude released WinterBreak, a Kindle jailbreak that will work on any model of Kindle released since 2013’s Paperwhite 2 and with any current firmware (via Notebookcheck). There are other jailbreaks available, but they only work with older firmware. This is the first jailbreak that will work with the latest generation of Kindles.

After all, all devices have their dangers. The discovery of speech introduced communication – and lies.

• Isaac Asimov

WinterBreak is a jailbreak which was released on New Year’s Day 2025 by HackerDude

It is based on Mesquito

The USS Thresher (SSN-593), which sank 60 years ago this April, was the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine to be lost at sea. Amid the public shock over the tragedy, the U.S. Navy grappled for an answer as to what went wrong. Even today, rival theories seek to explain the mystery.

“No, because you’re not black, Hispanic or a woman and we’ll see you in about 7 years.”

Joe Biden's attempt to mainstream transgenderism in education by claiming that "gender identity" was the same as sex was effectively killed by a federal judge. Judge Danny C. Reeves (G. W. Bush appointee) ruled the Department of Education's gambit was unconstitutional, arbitrary and capricious, exceeded the agency's authority, and was an “attempt to bypass the legislative process and completely transform Title IX.”

The Biden administration issued the new interpretation of Title IX in April, removing the clear and easy-to-follow interpretation put in place by the Trump administration; //

Even though the new interpretation did not specifically address the issue of men claiming to be women so they could play women's sports, it implies that any educational institution doing so will face a federal investigation. //

The mission for Trump's Secretary of Education, before he locks the doors and turns out the lights at that department, is to eradicate all traces of this nonsense and fire everyone who worked on this travesty.

Kellie Meyer
@KellieMeyerNews
·
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Our @JoeKhalilTV was able to catch up with @JohnFetterman after @NewsNation confirmed he is going to Mar-a-Lago to meet with President-elect Trump.

Fetterman joked he wants to be appointed the “Pope of Greenland”. //

But Fetterman might have one problem with being Pope to Greenland. It's really cold there and I think he would have to wear long pants. So he might not get the appointment.

This calculator determines the absolute pressure at the pump impeller. NPSHA must exceed the NPSHR (net positive suction head requirement specified by the pump manufacturer or caviation and/or loss of prime will occur.

This is because Newsom forgot — or likely never understood — what he is. He saw himself, not a servant of the people, but a king with the abiltiy to rule over the people as he pleases. You saw this from him quite a bit during the pandemic when he had rules for thee, but not for he. While you were locked down, he was having dinner at fancy restaurants.

I think it's funny that Newsom prioritized "Trump-proofing" his state enough to ignore the clear danger of out-of-control wildfires, because it's Trump that's actually demonstrating servitude.

Trump's goals are to reduce government waste, make it cheaper to operate, reduce the tax burden on the people, reduce their problems, and fix their economy. The man didn't have to do this. He was wealthy, well-loved, and didn't need the headache, but decided to take on the burden of fixing problems people like Newsom made because he is, at heart, a servant of the people. He doesn't look or sound like one, but he is. //

piscorman
4 hours ago
Another teachable moment may follow. These homes belonged to wealthy taxpayers who carry most of the burdens of Newscum's government. If they decide to leave rather than rebuild, California won't be able to pay its bills. It can't now but this compounds the problems.

piscorman 2020vision
3 hours ago
As you know, many didn't have insurance because Gov Hairdo's restrictions on rate increases caused State Farm to pull out of the state. Those who didn't have insurance likely owned the home outright, and will bear the full cost of the rebuild. My hunch is they will just leave rather than deal with California's dysfunctional government.

“The abnormally high fuel loads from two wet years are very likely playing an important role here,” Park Williams, bioclimatologist and professor at UCLA, told The Post Thursday.

“Then there’s the fact that the rainy season hasn’t yet begun, now 2-3 months late in arriving, and then the exceptional Santa Ana winds this week. Flip one of those 3 switches off and you don’t get the extraordinary fire activity this week,” he said.

Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, called the phenomenon “hydroclimate whiplash” in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.