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Comment Re:Broken business model... The customers are gone (Score 1) 46

by bbsguru (#65429498) Attached to: American Science & Surplus Is Fighting For Its Life
My favorite of the genre (OK, I've only been to two) was Weird Stuff Warehouse in Sunnyvale. Between them and Halted Supply Company, there was so much to imagine making use of.

Both of those are gone now, of course.

I bought a console table with an embedded 8" trackball (from an old radar station) and spent weeks trying to make use of it. Never found a way to, but I enjoyed the attempt. For all the chatter about 'maker culture' and such, I think the earlier comment about technology moving too fast for surplus to be pretty telling.

OTOH, people are clumping 2Gb flash drives into a "Terrabyte external SSD" by wrapping them in a plastic case, so I guess there is life in some surplus, even today.

Submission + - Ukraine Drones Destroy Dozens of Russian Aircraft (foxnews.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The brazen Ukrainian blitz of Russian warplanes Sunday was 18 months in the making and the Pentagon was kept in the dark until it was over, sources told Fox News.

"Operation Spider's Web," a series of coordinated drone strikes penetrating deep into Russian territory, is believed to have taken out dozens of Russia's most powerful bomber jets and surveillance planes as they sat idle on five military airfields.

The stunning operation was personally overseen by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said.

Ukraine used small FPV drones hidden inside wooden cabins mounted on trucks. When the trucks reached their targets, the roofs opened by remote control, and the drones launched.

Submission + - Kawasaki unveils horse-like rideable robotic concept 4

Submitted by backslashdot
backslashdot writes: Unveiled by Kawasaki Heavy Industries at the Osaka Kansai Expo in April 2025, it combines the company’s expertise in motorcycle engineering with advanced robotics. The Kawasaki Corleo is a futuristic, hydrogen-powered, four-legged robotic vehicle designed for off-road personal mobility. Unlike traditional wheeled vehicles, the Corleo moves using four independently articulated legs, each equipped with rubber hooves for enhanced grip on diverse terrains like grass, gravel, rocks, and mountains.

Riders control the Corleo through natural body movements—shifting their weight on adjustable footrests (similar to stirrups) and using a handlebar system that detects their center of gravity, mimicking the feel of riding a horse. A 150cc hydrogen engine powers electric motors in each leg, making it a clean-energy vehicle that produces water as a byproduct. It features an onboard display showing navigation, hydrogen levels, and posture feedback, and at night, it can project guiding markers onto the terrain. The rear legs swing independently from the front to absorb shocks and maintain rider stability on uneven ground or steep inclines.

Submission + - NYT: Science Being Dismantled, an open letter (nytimes.com)

Submitted by databasecowgirl
databasecowgirl writes: The New York Times has published a letter of protest regarding the dismantling of science by the current administration.

The letter body is a single page in length. However, the document consists of SEVENTY FIVE PAGES in order to include all of the signatories.

Pdf https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fnewsg...

Submission + - Citizenlab spyware research

Submitted by ISayWeOnlyToBePolite
ISayWeOnlyToBePolite writes: Original paper: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcitizenlab.ca%2F2025%2F03%2F...

Techcrunch coverage: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2025%2F03...
"The governments of Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore are likely customers of Israeli spyware maker Paragon Solutions, according to a new technical report by a renowned digital security lab.

On Wednesday, The Citizen Lab, a group of academics and security researchers housed at the University of Toronto that has investigated the spyware industry for more than a decade, published a report about the Israeli-founded surveillance startup, identifying the six governments as “suspected Paragon deployments.”

At the end of January, WhatsApp notified around 90 users that the company believed were targeted with Paragon spyware, prompting a scandal in Italy, where some of the targets live. "

The Guardian additional coverage of activist David Yambino :https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2025%2Fmar%2F19%2Fitalian-activist-david-yambio-alerts-icc-spyware-attack

"A prominent activist in Italy has warned the international criminal court that his mobile phone was under surveillance when he was providing the ICC with confidential information about victims of torture in Libya.

A report released on Wednesday by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which tracks digital surveillance of members of civil society, has confirmed that David Yambio, the founder of an organisation called Refugees in Libya, was targeted by mercenary spyware. The attack occurred at a time when he was in communication with The Hague, he said. At least one attack took place around June 2024, researchers said."

Submission + - California Reservoir Dams Opened At Trump's Order 2

Submitted by Petersko
Petersko writes: At the order of the President, 2.2 billion gallons of water were released from reservoirs in Central California on Friday. The goal, according to his posts on Truth Social, was to provide water to "farmers throughout the state, and to Los Angeles."

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F02%2F03...

"There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season."

“They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,” Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute. “This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.”

According to Trump, an additional 3 billion gallons will follow.

"The US Army Corps of Engineers and the White House did not respond to CNN’s request for comment."

Submission + - Tesla Reported Zero Federal Income Tax on $2 Billion of U.S. Income in 2024 (itep.org) 1

Submitted by theweatherelectric
theweatherelectric writes: Tesla, the most valuable automaker in the world valued at over $1 trillion, did not pay any federal income tax last year. Tesla’s annual financial report, released this morning, shows the company enjoyed $2.3 billion of U.S. income in 2024 on which it reports precisely zero current federal income tax. Over the past three years, the Elon Musk-led company reports $10.8 billion of U.S. income on which its current federal tax was just $48 million. That comes to a three-year federal tax rate of just 0.4 percent – more than 50 times less than the statutory corporate tax rate of 21 percent.

Submission + - Elon Musk admits to paying others to "boost" his game characters to top of ranks (washingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by ubermiester
ubermiester writes: From WaPo: Musk "...boasted to Joe Rogan that he ranked among the world’s best players of the role-playing game 'Diablo IV'" and bragged "about how quickly he had conquered the global leaderboards of another game, “Path of Exile 2,” blasting “through the ‘toughest’ content, popping monsters like balloons.”

But the gaming community "suspected that he had pursued a widely mocked tactic known as “boosting,” paying strangers to play his character and rake in loot so that, when he logged in, he could face challenges with the most powerful gear."

"Musk fought the allegations before ultimately confessing in messages this month. “It’s impossible to beat players in Asia if you don’t,” he wrote. A few days later, his character could be seen chasing treasure through the game’s sulfuric caverns while Musk was in the Capitol Rotunda, attending President Donald Trump’s inauguration."

“Elon lost the trust of all gamers overnight,” Dan Nelson, a programmer in Philadelphia, said in an X post liked more than 100,000 times. “Boosting your account and lying about it is the worst offense. incredibly cringe, fragile ego on full display.”

Submission + - Chinese fusion reactor maintains steady state for almost 18 minutes (newsweek.com) 1

Submitted by smooth wombat
smooth wombat writes: China has broken its own record for maintaining a steady state, high confinement plasma operation. The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) was able to operate for 17 minutes and 46 seconds, almost triple the previous record of 6 minutes and 43 seconds which EAST also set in 2023.

"We hope to expand international collaboration via EAST and bring fusion energy into practical use for humanity," Professor Yuntao Song, director of the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of Plasma Physics, said in a statement.

EAST—which began experimental operations in 2006—has received a number of upgrades since its previous record-breaking run in 2023, Xianzu Gong, head of EAST's Physics and Experimental Operations division, explained in a statement.

For example, refinements to the reactor's heating system have seen its stable power output doubled; it now operates at the level equivalent to some 140,000 microwave ovens.

Submission + - 750 MW PG&E Battery On Fire in California (apnews.com)

Submitted by sfcat
sfcat writes: Hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate and part of Highway 1 in Northern California was closed when a major fire erupted Thursday afternoon at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants.

As the fire sent up towering flames and black smoke and showed no sign of easing by Thursday night, about 1,500 people were instructed to leave Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area, The Mercury News reported.

The Moss Landing Power Plant, located about 77 miles (about 124 kilometers) south of San Francisco, is owned by Texas-company Vistra Energy and contains tens of thousands of lithium batteries. The batteries are important for storing electricity from such renewable energy sources as solar energy, but if they go up in flames the blazes can be extremely difficult to put out.

“There’s no way to sugar coat it. This is a disaster, is what it is,” Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSBW-TV. But he said he did not expect the fire to spread beyond the concrete building it was enclosed in.

Submission + - Queensland lab breach. Vials of Hendra virus, lyssavirus and hantavirus missing (abc.net.au)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: One hundred of the missing vials contain the deadly Hendra virus, two contain the hantavirus, and the remaining vials contain lyssavirus. All three of the viruses are zoonotic diseases, meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans. According to Newsweek,

Hendra virus is a "bat-born viral disease" that was discovered in the 1990s when it killed several Australian horses. While it's rare, it has a high fatality rate of 57%. The World Health Organization reports that symptoms can range from mild and flu-like to severe respiratory and neurological complications. No treatment currently exists, though vaccines are available for horses.

Hantavirus is spread through rodents, and Newsweek reported earlier this year that it had spread to the United States, particularly in the Southwest region. A handful of people in Arizona and California have died from the virus this year. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that people who come in contact with a rat or mouse that carries the virus may experience hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which affects the lungs, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which impacts the kidneys. It has a 38% mortality rate.

Lyssavirus is a type of rabies specific to Australia that spreads through contact with bats, usually through a bite or a scratch. While rare, it's almost always deadly to humans who contract the virus.

Submission + - Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler: The Mother of WHOIS Honored by CHM (circleid.com)

Submitted by penciling_in
penciling_in writes: Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler, a pioneering information scientist, was recently awarded the Computer History Museum's Fellow Award for her groundbreaking contributions to the ARPANET and internet infrastructure. Initially a biochemist, Feinler transitioned to tech, joining Doug Engelbart's Augmentation Research Center (ARC) in 1972. As principal investigator, she led the Network Information Center (NIC), compiling ARPANET contact information that evolved into today's WHOIS system. Beyond her technical expertise, Feinler championed diversity, mentoring women and minorities in STEM. Her enduring legacy continues to shape internet protocols, with modern projects addressing data accuracy honoring her as "Project Jake."

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