European Gas Prices Soar as Russian Supply Concerns Mount
March 2nd, 2022Via: Reuters:
British and Dutch gas prices soared over 30% on Wednesday morning, driven by anxiety over the continued supply of Russian gas and possible sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Starlink Systems Delivered in Ukraine
March 1st, 2022That was fast!
Remember the days when Starlink was just about bringing better Internet access to rural households? haha
See, Musk Activates Starlink Internet Service in Ukraine for context:
What is Starlink’s actual purpose? …the massive scale of the project and the rapid approval by the U.S. Government made me think that there had to be some sort of national security element in play.
And now…
Starlink — here. Thanks, @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/dZbaYqWYCf
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 28, 2022
“Breadbasket Of World” Choked Off By Russian Invasion As Wheat Prices Soar
March 1st, 2022Via: ZeroHedge:
Ukraine has earned the nickname “breadbasket of Europe” for its rich dark soil, vast wheat fields, and other farm goods. The Russian invasion has cut off the world from cheap and abundant wheat supplies.
Ukraine and Russia are vital to the global food supply, accounting for more than a quarter of global wheat trade, about a fifth of corn, and 12% of all calories traded globally, according to Bloomberg.
Can Startup’s New Drilling Technology Unlock Limitless Geothermal Power?
March 1st, 2022Via: Interesting Engineering:
Quaise Energy plans to use millimeter-wave drilling systems that can reach depths where geothermal energy is virtually unlimited. The firm will drill with microwaves in order to go deeper than ever before.
On its website, Quaise Emergy describes the technology as follows: “Our gyrotron-powered drilling platform vaporizes boreholes through rock and provides access to deep geothermal heat without complex downhole equipment. Based on breakthrough fusion research and well-established drilling practices, we are developing a radical new approach to ultra-deep drilling.”
Better yet, the firm does not plan on producing new geothermal plants from scratch but is rather looking at repowering old oil and gas plants. This will be more cost-efficient and also allow the workforce from these plants to join the clean energy transition.
Finally, Quaise Energy claims that deep geothermal uses less than 1 percent of the land and materials of other renewables, making it the most convenient and profitable choice toward a clean energy future. The company has already raised $63 million indicating it is well on its way to making ubiquitous access to geothermal a viable option.
Los Angeles Is Spending Up To $837,000 To House A Single Homeless Person
February 28th, 2022Via: KTLA:
A $1.2 billion program intended to quickly build housing for Los Angeles’ sprawling homeless population is moving too slowly while costs are spiking, with one project under development expected to hit as much as $837,000 for each housing unit, a city audit disclosed Wednesday.
Russia: Ruble Down 20%, Stock and Derivatives Markets Closed
February 28th, 2022Via: CNBC:
Russia’s central bank on Monday more than doubled the country’s key interest rate from 9.5% to 20% as its currency, the ruble, hit a record low against the dollar on the back of a slew of new sanctions and penalties imposed on Russia by Europe and the U.S. for its invasion of Ukraine.
The rate hike, the central bank said, “is designed to offset increased risk of ruble depreciation and inflation.”
This follows the central bank’s order to halt foreigners’ bids to sell Russian securities in an effort to contain the market fallout. The ruble fell as far as 119.50 per dollar, down a whopping 30% from Friday’s close. It later pared some of its losses, trading at 93.04 per dollar by 3:30 p.m. in Moscow, still down roughly 20% against the dollar in the last year.
Not The Onion: George W. Bush Slams Putin For Illegal Invasion
February 28th, 2022Via: Summit News:
After George W. Bush slammed Vladimir Putin for illegally invading a country, Twitter users who weren’t born yesterday had some choice reactions.
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine constitutes the gravest security crisis on the European continent since World War II. I join the international community in condemning Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” said Bush in a statement.
“We cannot tolerate the authoritarian bullying and danger that Putin poses,” he added.
For anyone who has no memory or is unable to perform a basic Google search, Bush was president when America illegally invaded Iraq on the pretext of finding “weapons of mass destruction” that never existed.
Humans Find AI-Generated Faces More Trustworthy Than the Real Thing
February 28th, 2022Via: Scientific American:
One tell for a deepfake used to be the “uncanny valley” effect, an unsettling feeling triggered by the hollow look in a synthetic person’s eyes. But increasingly convincing images are pulling viewers out of the valley and into the world of deception promulgated by deepfakes.
The startling realism has implications for malevolent uses of the technology: its potential weaponization in disinformation campaigns for political or other gain, the creation of false porn for blackmail, and any number of intricate manipulations for novel forms of abuse and fraud. Developing countermeasures to identify deepfakes has turned into an “arms race” between security sleuths on one side and cybercriminals and cyberwarfare operatives on the other.
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA provides a measure of how far the technology has progressed. The results suggest that real humans can easily fall for machine-generated faces—and even interpret them as more trustworthy than the genuine article. “We found that not only are synthetic faces highly realistic, they are deemed more trustworthy than real faces,” says study co-author Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. The result raises concerns that “these faces could be highly effective when used for nefarious purposes.”
A National Vaccine Pass Has Quietly Rolled Out – And Red States Are Getting On Board
February 27th, 2022Convenience.
Via: Forbes:
Even as the omicron variant loosens its grip on the world, destinations continue to require travelers to show proof of vaccination. And, increasingly, a paper CDC vaccination card is not cutting it.
While the United States government has not issued a federal digital vaccine pass, a national standard has nevertheless emerged. To date, 21 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico offer accessibility to the SMART Health Card, a verifiable digital proof of vaccination developed through the Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI), a global coalition of public and private stakeholders including Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, the Mayo Clinic and other health and tech heavyweights.
And very soon, at least four more states will be rolling out access to SMART Health Cards. “We’ve seen a notable uptick in states that have officially launched public portals where individuals can get verifiable vaccination credentials in the form of SMART Health Cards with a QR code,” says Dr. Brian Anderson, co-founder of the VCI and chief digital health physician at MITRE.
Research Credit: Jente
PUTIN ORDERS RUSSIA’S STRATEGIC NUCLEAR FORCES TO HIGHEST ALERT LEVEL
February 27th, 2022Via: BBC:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to put its nuclear forces on “special alert” – the highest level of alert for Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces.
Speaking to top military officials, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, he said Western nations had taken “unfriendly actions” towards Russia and imposed “illegitimate sanctions”.
