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Submission + - FBI's Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out (wired.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Newly uncovered metadata reveals that nearly three minutes of footage were cut from what the US Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation described as “full raw” surveillance video from the only functioning camera near Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell the night before he was found dead. The video was released last week as part of the Trump administration’s commitment to fully investigate Epstein’s 2019 death but instead has raised new questions about how the footage was edited and assembled.

Comment Original paper is way more nuanced. (Score 1) 1

BNE Intellinews article was taken from this press release:
https://www.icm.csic.es/en/new...

which, itself, doesn't represent the research paper accurately:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.10...

The conclusion of the research paper is: hey, we can track these sorts of changes in the southern hemisphere and there are several possible explanations and (as with all successful research papers) more research is necessary.

Submission + - Southern Ocean current reverses, signalling risk of climate system collapse (intellinews.com) 1

Submitted by OtisSnerd
OtisSnerd writes: From the news story: "A major ocean current in the Southern Hemisphere has reversed direction for the first time in recorded history, in what climatologists are calling a “catastrophic” tipping point in the global climate system."

This could impact the slowing of the Gulf Stream, which keeps Northern Europe warm.

Submission + - The terrifying truth about why Tesla's cars keep crashing (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Alain Williams
Alain Williams writes: Elon Musk is obsessive about the design of his supercars, right down to the disappearing door handles. But a series of shocking incidents – from drivers trapped in burning vehicles to dramatic stops on the highway – have led to questions about the safety of the brand. Why won’t Tesla give any answers?

Submission + - Censorship and fraud driving creators away from YouTube 1

Submitted by NewtonsLaw
NewtonsLaw writes: When YouTuber Bruce Simpson received notification of a community guidelines infringement on his xjet YouTube channel he wasn't happy. YouTube alleges that one of his videos constitutes "hate speech" and even after review, the platform stands by its allegations.

What was the video that risks inciting hate and violence to such an extent that it needed to be removed, even after "appeal"?

Well it wasn't anything political, ideological or even violent. It was a two minute video of a radio controlled model aircraft flying in the skies at his local airfield in Tokoroa, New Zealand.

Incensed by this baseless allegation, Simpson posted this video to YouTube and within a few hours it had already gathered tens of thousands of views and over a thousand comments. Those comments make for great reading and show just how "out of touch" YouTube has become with its target audience and its creators.

The hypocrisy is also highlighted, as Simpson points out just how YouTube is prepared to overlook or even support frauds being perpetrated on its audience by way of scam advertisements that continue to play weeks or even months after they've been reported by countless people, many of who have become victims of the scams.

Has YouTube lost its way? Has it forgotten its roots? Are many creators now turning to self-hosting in reaction to ridiculous levels of censorship?

Or do we have a reverse adpocalypse — where content creators are shunning YouTube because they do not want their content being run alongside fraudulent scammy ads placed by YouTube?

Submission + - FDA did not notify the public of deadly E. coli outbreak across 15 states (nbcnews.com)

Submitted by joshuark
joshuark writes: The outbreak is linked to romaine lettuce killed one person and sickened at least 88 more, including a 9-year-old boy who nearly died of kidney failure.

“There were no public communications related to this outbreak,” the FDA said in its report, which noted that there had been a death but provided no details about it.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported in February that it had closed the investigation without publicly detailing what had happened, or which companies were responsible for growing and processing the contaminated lettuce.

The FDA said its staff members “continue to provide critical communications to consumers associated with foodborne outbreaks,” including information about recalls and investigations.

Submission + - Ann Arbor building a new electricity grid along side the old one (techxplore.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: An experiment is underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that could change how communities generate and distribute power in the future. The city, with voters' strong support, is launching its own sustainable energy utility. This new utility won't replace DTE Energy, the local investor-owned power company, or even use DTE's wires. Instead, Ann Arbor will slowly build out a whole new modern power system, starting with installing rooftop solar and battery storage and reducing energy usage in individual homes and businesses whose owners opt in. The city then plans to expand by connecting homes and neighborhoods into microgrids and by using community solar and networked geothermal to allow broader access to clean energy. If it works as planned, a sustainable energy utility like this could quickly build the clean energy grid of the future by shedding outdated infrastructure while creating a reliable, clean and resilient model.

Submission + - Email shows that Musk ally is moving to close office behind free tax filing prog (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Alain Williams
Alain Williams writes: An Elon Musk ally installed in the US government said in a late night email going into Saturday that the office behind a popular free online tax filing option would be shuttered – and its employees would be let go.

The 18F office within the General Services Administration (GSA) created the IRS Direct File program that allows for free online tax filings. It has been a frequent target of Musk, and one of the billionaire businessman’s close associates who holds a key position in the GSA informed staffers that the agency would close 18F in an email to staffers that arrived around 1am on Saturday morning.

Submission + - Defense of FOSS licensing rests on the shoulders of a guy in Virginia (theregister.com) 1

Submitted by jms00
jms00 writes: The open-source community is finally realizing that Neo4j v. PureThink could set a dangerous legal precedent, allowing companies to impose new restrictions on open-source licenses. If the Ninth Circuit upholds the lower courtâ(TM)s ruling, it wonâ(TM)t just threaten the GPL, it could undermine all open-source licenses, undoing years of work to protect software freedom.

With one developer fighting this battle pro se, the stakes couldnâ(TM)t be higher!

Submission + - Argentinian president promotes $LIBRA cryptocoin... which crashes into oblivion

Submitted by gwolf
gwolf writes: On Friday, February 14, Libertarian Argentinian president, Javier Milei, promoted the just-created $LIBRA cryptocoin, created by the Viva la libertad project, strongly aligned with his political party, La Libertad Avanza. Milei tweeted, ÂThis private project will be devoted to promote growth of the Argentinian economy, funding small startups and enterprises. The world wants to invest in Argentina!Â. It is worth noting that the project's website was registered a mere three minutes before Milei tweeted his endorsement. The cryptocoin quickly reached a $4.6 billion market cap... Only to instantaneously lose 89% of its value, with nine core investers pulling the rug from under the enthusiast investers. Of course, Milei angrily answered with a new tweet blaming everybody but himself. Is there any way to believe he wasn't aware of the shoddy associates he was promoting? Or that promoting a memecoin is not responsible for the head of state of a country?

Submission + - Pairwise authentication of humans.

Submitted by Kernel Kurtz
Kernel Kurtz writes: Picked up on this article from Bruce Schneier's most recent Cryptogram newsletter;

Bad actors can now digitally impersonate someone you love, and trick you into doing things like paying a ransom. Here is an easy system for two humans to remotely authenticate to each other, so they can be sure that neither are digital impersonations. As it becomes more and more difficult to trust anything you see or hear online, this is a simple elegant solution to an emerging problem.

Submission + - Musk Shows Us What Actual Government Censorship On Social Media Looks Like (techdirt.com)

Submitted by theweatherelectric
theweatherelectric writes: Self proclaimed "free speech absolutist" Elon Musk is now suppressing free speech on Twitter. Over the weekend, Wired reported on the inexperienced twenty-somethings between 19 and 24 working for Musk who have been given unprecedented access to sensitive government systems.

When someone posted these government employees’ names on Twitter, Musk first declared it “criminal” to name government employees (it isn't) and then he followed it up by having the comment removed.

Submission + - Evolution Journal's Editors Resign En Masse Amid Elsevier's Meddling

Submitted by ewhac
ewhac writes: Retraction Watch is reporting that the entire editorial staff (save one) for the Journal of Human Evolution has resigned in protest over creeping harmful changes imposed by its publisher, Elsevier. In an open letter posted to social media, JHE editors recount Elsevier's changes to JHE's scientific and editorial processes — with Elsevier inserting itself into those processes — along with staff and budget reductions, negatively impacting their ability to review and publish submissions. When the editorial board complained of Elsevier's eliminating support for a copy editor, Elsevier allegedly responded, "...the editors should not be paying attention to language, grammar, readability, consistency, or accuracy of proper nomenclature or formatting." When the editors fiercely protested Elsevier's ending of JHE's dual-editor model, Elsevier allegedly responded, "...it would support a dual-editor model by cutting the compensation rate by half."

But perhaps most damning is a footnote revealing Elsevier's use of so-called "AI" in the publication process: "In fall of 2023, for example, without consulting or informing the editors, Elsevier initiated the use of AI during production, creating article proofs devoid of capitalization of all proper nouns (e.g., formally recognized epochs, site names, countries, cities, genera, etc.) as well italics for genera and species. These AI changes reversed the accepted versions of papers that had already been properly formatted by the handling editors. This was highly embarrassing for the journal and resolution took six months and was achieved only through the persistent efforts of the editors. AI processing continues to be used and regularly reformats submitted manuscripts to change meaning and formatting and require extensive author and editor oversight during proof stage." Except for one unnamed associate editor, the JHE's editorial board determined that the situation with Elsevier was no longer tenable, and resigned.

Submission + - AI scoring of tenant's characteristics leads to rejection - and payout (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: 'Despite a stellar reference from a landlord of 17 years, Mary Louis was rejected after being screened by firm SafeRent'. The software, SafeRent, didn’t explain in its 11-page report how the score was calculated or how it weighed various factors. It didn’t say what the score actually signified. It just displayed Louis’s number and determined it was too low. In a box next to the result, the report read: “Score recommendation: DECLINE”.'

However there is a question as to whether this is AI or merely automated scoring of standard factors being toted up to produce a result. The prospective tenant's problem was her low credit rating — that she had 'a low credit score and some credit card debt, she had a stellar reference from her landlord of 17 years, who said she consistently paid her rent on time. She would also be using a voucher for low-income renters, guaranteeing the management company would receive at least some portion of the monthly rent in government payments. Her son, also named on the voucher, had a high credit score, indicating he could serve as a backstop against missed payments.'

Surely what's needed is a clear algorithm. To suggest that the algorithm is wrong is fair, and for it to be hidden inside a black box called 'AI' is especially problematic.

Comment Re:Congradulations (Score 4, Informative) 203

No, Musk didn't give the people in a hurricane disaster zone free internet. They get one free month on Starlink, but they have to buy a $400 dish and at the end of their free month, they get automatically converted into a $120/month plan.

Robo-taxi doesn't have a plug. It charges - slowly - by driving over special roads w/embedded coils. There's 1/4 mile of such road in the US, so the thing is useless.

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