Displaying post 1 to 50 of 353
from
mefi
Over a year ago, automotive YouTuber Robert Dunn ran a video showing the stark difference between the experience of charging an electric vehicle on the Supercharger network and the varied CCS charging platforms out in the wild. With a year marked with the opening of the Supercharger network to non-Tesla EVs and improvements to both NACS and CCS infrastructure, Dunn has revisited that assessment.
Writing for Ars Technica, automotive editor Jonathan Gitlin covers Tesla's "We, Robot" event in which the car maker revealed their Cybercab prototypes, as well as their autonomous "Robovan" minibus concept.
Former Colorado county clerk, conspiracy monger, and election denier Tina Peters has been sentenced to 9 years incarceration for providing pillow and conspiracy peddler Mike Lindell access to Dominion voting machines in the wake of the 2020 election along with using her position to push baseless claims.
CNN has put out a list of twenty great American dishes - a list that shows the surprising breadth of the food we eat that have become iconic in American cuisine. (SLCNN)
In a thread on BlueSky, political science professor Dave Karpf dissects Nate Silver's new doorstop of a book on gambling and risk, and finds several interesting - and disturbing - things within.
In both social media and his column (archive link), New York Times columnist and pundit Jamelle Bouie discusses the lack of Civil War movies that honestly grapple with the conflict and slavery as its driving force, and how the Lost Cause movement is to blame.
In preparation for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the planners are looking to make the event accessible for delegates - including installing ramps to allow wheelchair users to sit with their delegations on the floor for the first time.
This week, Elon Musk has added to his already sizable legal problems with two cases on both sides of the courtroom. On the plaintiff side, he has sued the Global Alliance for Responsible Media over them encouraging advertisers to pull ads from Twitter over hate speech and bigotry on the site. On the defendant side, Michigan AG Dana Nessel has opened a criminal investigation into his PAC over their voter registration website violating state laws.
After a ten week trial in which testimony was heard from major players in the tech industry like Apple and Microsoft, federal district court judge Amit Mehta has ruled that Google and Alphabet have acted as a monopolist in the realms of online search and online advertising, in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
In an interview with noted right wing figure and transphobe Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk attacked his estranged transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson, proceeding to deadname her while calling her "dead" because she transitioned, and saying he was "tricked" into signing off on her gender affirming care. In response, Wilson has given an interview with NBC News in which she details how Musk was both an abusive and absentee father while she was growing up, and how he lied about her interests growing up as well as his signing off on her care.
In a surprising move, the staff of Bethesda Game Studios - creators of the first person based Fallout games, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls - have moved to collectively unionize under the Communication Workers of America (CWA). (SLIGN)
Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, famous for his climate change denial speech where he brought a snowball on the floor of the Senate, has died at 89.
Every Frame A Painting is a series of essays on the art of filmmaking by filmmakers Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos, covering topics like how Vancouver never plays itself or how the MCU lacks a musical identity, among discussions of the techniques of notable filmmakers. Sadly, the channel has been defunct since 2017...until now.
In the most recent summer Nintendo Direct (where the video game maker releases info on their major holiday season titles), one of the biggest announcements was for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - the first time in the (actual) franchise's history where the title character is also the protagonist.
On Thursday, conspiracy monger, supplement peddler, defamation artist, and abuser Alex Jones moved to convert his bankruptcy proceedings to Chapter 7, allowing for the liquidation of his personal assets to pay off the over $1.5B he owes in legal decisions to the families of Sandy Hook victims he defamed and whose lives he upended - including his personal holdings in his conspiracy theory empire, InfoWars.
Last summer, the California coast had an unusual threat for surfers in the form of Otter 841, who had a passion for stealing surfboards while evading the authorities. With the start of the 2024 season, Otter 841 is back, and just as ready to cause havok as she was last year.
As reported previously on the Blue, the the Reykjanes peninsula had an eruption in the proximity of the town of Grindavík several months back, however the emergence had settled down after about a week of activity...until a new emergence opened up in the Sundhnuk crater. (SLYT live feed)
Facing the potential of a ruinous $20B decision against them in the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit, the NCAA and the major conferences are coming to a settlement that will see college athletes recieve revenue sharing, as well as former athletes being eligible to recieve damages for payments wrongly withheld.
Buckingham Palace has revealed King Charles III's first official post-coronation portrait, and the work by artist Jonathan Yeo has proven to be...divisive in its design.
After departing the BlueSky board of directors, Block Head and social media mogul Jack Dorsey gave an interview with venture capitalist Mike Solana in which he explained that Twitter rejecting advertisers is a blow for free speech and BlueSky is repeating the mistakes of Twitter, like moderation.
As part of Secret Base's Patreon based restructuring, Internet video troubadour and oddity explainer Jon Bois has ressurected his long defunct Pretty Good series with a three part video on the rise and fall of Henry Ross Perot's political party/personal vehicle - the Reform Party.
As part of a defamation lawsuit against the owner of Twitter for his tweets, Mark Bankston - whom you may recall was the lawyer for the Sandy Hook families in the Texas lawsuit against Alex Jones, where he told the conspiracy theorist that he had recieved a full copy of his phone's contents from his lawyer while cross examining him - has deposed Elon Musk under oath, in a deposition that is a sight to behold.
After an announcement at the Tesla January earnings call introducing the Model 2 as an upcoming mass market priced model (that would require workers to sleep at the factory), reports are that the new model is being cancelled in light of increasing competition in the Chinese EV market.
A high ranking Iowa hospital systems administrator has plead guilty to identity theft after stealing his former coworker's identity - for thirty years. (SLArs Technica)
Rocketdyne is notable among the space exploration set for developing a number of NASA's workhorse chemical rocket engines, such as the main thrusters of the Shuttle. But during the Space Race, they created a monster of such an engine, built around a tripropellant mix of molten lithium, liquid hydrogen, and liquid fluorine - an engine where the safest component was the asbestos cladding. (SLYT)
As part of their regular updates to the English lexicon, the Oxford English Dictionary has added a number of Japanese loan words, most notably the term for a notorious genre of anime and manga - isekai, or "portal fantasy".
Former Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman has died at 82 from complications from a fall.
Ian Danskin (of Innuendo Studio and creator of the Alt-Right Playbook) dusts off a video script he's had kicking around, and explains in detail why everybody but him is wrong about Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's Cornetto Trilogy.
Vancouver, BC has been dealing with a major housing crunch for years due to a number of factors. But the Squamish First Nation has an answer - Sen̓áḵw, a major urban mixed use development on Squamish land in the Vancouver metro area - which means that it can be developed bigger and denser than Vancouver regulations would allow...and without NIMBY interference. (SLMacLean's)
Nick Knacks is a retrospective series on the history of children's entertainment network Nickelodeon, looking at the network's growth and philosophy by taking a look at every show it aired in (mostly) chronological order. The series - now covering 1991, one of (if not the) most important years for the network - has hit a milestone with the primary series hitting episode #100, which covers the network's first "traditional" multi-camera soundstage sitcom, Clarissa Explains It All.
After several years of alternative playoff game broadcasts, the NFL and Nickelodeon are stepping things up with an alternative Super Bowl broadcast on the children's entertainment network.
Delaware Court of Chancery judge Kathaleen McCormick has ruled that Elon Musk's $55B pay package at Tesla was unfair to stockholders and can be voided - a move that would put a significant dent in his wealth.
The Monday (and the week) after the last weekend of NFL regulation play is called Black Monday, as it is typically the day that head coaches around the league either get handed their pink slips or announce their departures. While a number of the dismissals were expected, such as Atlanta, Washington, and Tennessee dismissing their coaches, this year has seen a number of surprise departures in both the professional and college levels, with Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, and Nick Saban all departing their head coach positions.
Four years after filing suit and a failed attempt at declaring bankruptcy, the civil fraud trial against the NRA and its head Wayne LaPierre by NYAG Leticia James has finally commenced.
After completing a corporate merger bringing the company under their umbrella, Western US convience store and fuel station operator Maverik is planning to retire the long-standing "Kum & Go" brand.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint that SpaceX had illegally fired employees who had written an open letter criticizing the conduct of SpaceX's owner, arguing the dismissals were an illegal attempt to suppress organization of workers. In response, Musk and SpaceX have filed a countersuit asserting that the NLRB is unconstitutional in a case that could undercut the US regulatory state.
It's the start of a new year, and that means it's time for Defector's annual recap of (mostly self-)inflicted bodily harm - What We Got Stuck In Our Various Orifaces and What We Did To Mr. Happy in 2023.
Following up on his previous shift in federal marijuana policy, President Biden has issued a blanket pardon for all people convicted of simple use and possession under federal law. (SLWhite House)
As reported previously on the Blue, geologists were monitoring a buildup of magma under the Reykjanes peninsula, with earthquakes and other seismic activity reported in the region. Subsidence of said phenomena had researchers stating that risk of eruption had lessened - until the 18th, when said eruption finally occurred.
A federal judge has issued a 14 day temporary injunction against the NCAA enforcing limitations on players transferring to other schools, as part of a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of several states asserting that said rules are an unlawful restraint of trade against the players.
After nearly three decades and a number of ups and downs for the event, the Entertainment Software Association has announced the end of the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, better known as E3, coming after a deal with geek culture event management firm ReedPop falling apart.
As part of their investigative journalism on the social media platform once known as Twitter, Media Matters For America reported that ads were being served by the platform next to hateful, bigoted, antisemitic, and white supremacist content on the platform, resulting in advertisers such as IBM pulling their ads from the platform. Which led to the service filing a defamation lawsuit against MMFA over their reporting.
Continuing on with his line of documentaries on the history of the Disney parks and their operations, Kevin Perjurer of Defunctland (previously) has released an ambitious new piece - a history of the tumultuous history of EPCOT Center from Walt's death to the park's opening, done through a synesthesic presentation built on music, visuals, and historical footage. (SLYT)
In a move reminiscent of the collapse of Deadspin, gaming website The Escapist has seen a mass departure of the video creation team after the firing of EIC Nick Calandra, including Zero Punctuation host and creator Yahtzee Croshaw.
In another set of Stories From The Readership at Ask A Manager, site owner Alison Green asked for tales of odd office traditions, resulting in tales of office blankets, epic snack battles, and the monthly Office Space printer scene re-enactment. (SLAsk A Manager)
In the bankruptcy hearing for Infowars owner and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez hasruled that the $1.1B in rulings against Jones are non-dischargable, putting him personally on the hook for the full amount. (SLReuters)
As part of the runup to the release of his first publicly published work in 28 years, cartoonist and artist Bill Watterson discusses The Mysteries and his experience collaborating with artist John Kascht. (SLYT)
In major news in the fight against malaria, the World Health Organization has approved the R21 vaccine - which can be produced cheaply at scale.
It is time for the 2023 Fat Bear Week, the annual clash of tubby titans in Alaska's Katmai National Park, to see whose ursine heft reigns supreme. This year's Fat Bear Week kicks off with the Fat Bear Junior contest, whose winner gets to join the main bracket.
On September 20th New York Times pundit David Brooks posted a tweet where he stated the high cost of his meal demonstrated why people had a low opinion of the economy. Unfortunately for Brooks, response was quick and vicious as viewers pointed out that the food portion of the meal was only $18, and that the majority of his bill was in his drink, in a real world example of the "someone who is good at the economy please help me" meme.