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Submission + - China's Solar Industry Quietly Fired A Third Of Its Workers (zerohedge.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: China's biggest solar firms fired nearly one-third of their workforces last year, a Reuters analysis of company filings shows, as one of the industries hand-picked by Beijing to drive economic growth grapples with falling prices and steep losses. Longi Green Energy, Trina Solar, Jinko Solar, JA Solar, and Tongwei collectively shed some 87,000 staff, or 31% of their workforces on average last year, according to a Reuters review of employment figures in public filings.

The job cuts illustrate the pain from the vicious price wars being fought across Chinese industries, including solar and electric vehicles, as China grapples with massive overcapacity and dismal demand (which has prompted China to dump its exports into any country that will accept them). As a frame of reference, the world produces twice as many solar panels each year as it uses, with most of them manufactured in China.

So to summarize: 5 years ago China unleashed a historic stimulus ramp to build up as much solar capacity as it could. Now, drowning in overcapacity, it is unleashing an even more historic ramp to reverse everything it did.

Submission + - China's War On Starlink: From Laser Attacks To Supply-Chain Sabotage (eurasiantimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Chinese military scientists are relentlessly working on a new project — how to neutralize the Starlink advantage of its adversaries in the case of a war.

And, Beijing is debating everything from stealth submarines fitted with space-shooting lasers, supply-chain sabotage, custom-built attack satellites to kill Starlink satellites, to diplomacy and co-opting Elon Musk, the influential owner of Starlink and recent friend-turned-foe of US President Donald Trump.

In fact, Chinese scientists and researchers have published not one or two but dozens of papers in peer-reviewed journals debating the most efficient way of killing the thousands of Starlink satellites in the Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO).

Worried that these satellites could be used against China, for reconnaissance purposes during peacetime, and for targeting Chinese assets during a war situation, Chinese researchers have been discussing ways to counter this threat.

Submission + - Bioethicists Want to Infect People With Disease That Makes You Allergic to Meat. (hotair.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: You would think that the development of a discipline called "bioethics" would be a good thing, but you would be wrong.

The history of science and medicine is filled with appalling instances of scientists and doctors cruelly abusing people and animals--forced sterilizations, lobotomies, experiments on unwitting victims...the list goes on.

The problem, though, is that the people doing the bioethics are the same people, in many cases, who dream up these nightmares. Their goal is not to "do no harm," but to justify it.

Comment We need to get rid of the income tax (Score 1) 150

by schwit1 (#65560540) Attached to: IRS Chief Says Agency Plans To End Free Filing Program

Go to a consumption tax. No more 1040 forms, no more April 15, no more deductions from your paycheck and biggest of all, no more having the government know how you earned every penny.

Before someone one-note-nelly's that the consumption tax is regressive, so is an income tax. They fixed the income tax, they can fix the consumption tax.

Replacing the income tax with a consumption tax would also allow major cuts at the IRS since they would only need to focus on businesses.

Comment They want to eliminate the anonymous internet (Score 3, Interesting) 54

by schwit1 (#65559094) Attached to: US Senators Introduce New Pirate Site Blocking Bill: Block BEARD

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2Fvisegrad24%2Fstatu...

The UK Minister for Technology has urged citizens to stop using VPNs, to help them circumvent the new Online Safety Act.

Peter Kyle said that providing personal data to the state would keep save children in the UK.

Submission + - For Sale: 1990 Airstream NASA 025 Command Vehicle (hemmings.com) 1

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Imagine pulling into Burning Man driving this?

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to own your own NASA vehicle this is the NASA 025 command vehicle. NASA 025 was designed to land crewed missions at Edwards Air Force Base. It is the one and only of its kind ever built. Has only 8240 miles on it as driven from Ohio to California then around the Edwards base

As Edwards AFB is a massive dry lake bed space missions (both public and secret) would often land in remote areas of the base miles from the tower. This vehicle would be the onsite command center complete with communications and atmospheric monitoring.

Submission + - Apple's iOS 26 text filters could cost political campaigns millions of dollars (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Apple's new spam text filtering feature could end up being a multimillion-dollar headache for political campaigns.

iOS 26 includes a new feature that allows users to filter text messages from unrecognized numbers into an "Unknown Senders" folder without sending a notification. Users can then go to that filter and hit "Mark as Known" or delete the message.

In a memo seen by BI and first reported by Punchbowl News, the official campaign committee in charge of electing GOP senators warned that the new feature could lead to a steep drop in revenue.

"That change has profound implications for our ability to fundraise, mobilize voters, and run digital campaigns," reads a July 24 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, or NRSC.

The memo estimated that the new feature could cost the group $25 million in lost revenue and lead to a $500 million loss for GOP campaigns as a whole, based on the estimate that 70% of small-dollar donations come from text messages and that iPhones make up 60% of mobile devices in the US.

Submission + - Apple opens Detroit manufacturing academy (cnbc.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Apple opens manufacturing academy in Detroit as Trump ramps up pressure to invest in U.S.

The Apple Manufacturing Academy will be located in downtown Detroit and will be administered by Michigan State University.

The academy will offer workshops on manufacturing and artificial intelligence to small and medium-sized businesses, Apple said.

Trump has called for Apple to move iPhone production to the U.S. and is implementing tariffs that will likely raise the company's costs.

Submission + - Trump Secures Huge Trade Deal With European Union (pjmedia.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The numbers speak for themselves. The European Union will purchase a staggering $750 billion in American energy, severing its reliance on Russian resources and undermining Vladimir Putin’s economic leverage. The EU will put another $600 billion in new investment into the U.S. economy, a torrent of capital poised to create jobs, invigorate industries, and cement America’s manufacturing revival. And Trump forced open European markets with a simple, powerful stroke: zero tariffs on trade, with a uniform 15 percent tariff for automobiles and other imports, ending years of lopsided trade that favored the EU.

Submission + - More than 20% of NASA's workforce requests to leave agency (behindtheblack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The number of NASA employees that have accepted the Trump offer to leave has now grown to more than 4,000 people, reducing the entire workforce from 18,000 to 14,000.

Nearly 4,000 employees, or more than 20% of NASA’s workforce, have applied to leave the agency, NASA confirmed to CBS News Friday. About 3,870 employees have applied to depart NASA over two rounds through the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, NASA disclosed. The deadline for applications to the program is midnight Friday.

With those deferred resignations, NASA’s civil servant workforce would shrink from about 18,000 to 14,000 personnel. This figure also includes about 500 employees who were lost through normal attrition, the agency said.

It is certain that while Trump is office these workers will not be replaced. While most of the press and pro-government activists will claim this is terrible news, it is actually the best thing that can happen. Since NASA is now trying to use the capitalism model across the board, it doesn’t need that many employees. It is hiring the private sector to do most of its work. It doesn’t take that many people to review and issue a contract.

So, even if Congress rejects Trump’s proposed 24% cut to NASA’s 2026 budget and funds it entirely at the same levels as in 2025, the money will be more effectively used.

Submission + - Britain: 'Shut Up,' the Government Explained. (nationalreview.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes:

An elite team of police officers is to monitor social media for anti-migrant sentiment amid fears of summer riots.

Detectives will be drawn from forces across the country to take part in a new investigations unit that will flag up early signs of potential civil unrest.

The division, assembled by the Home Office, will aim to “maximise social media intelligence” gathering after police forces were criticised over their response to last year’s riots.

It comes amid growing concern that Britain is facing another summer of disorder, as protests outside asylum hotels spread.

On Saturday, crowds gathered in towns and cities including Norwich, Leeds and Bournemouth to demand action, with more protests planned for Sunday.

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