All posts tagged: shut

Trump to shut down all 8,000 EV charging ports at federal govt buildings

Trump to shut down all 8,000 EV charging ports at federal govt buildings

Published by skeptic

Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com The Trump administration is shutting down EV chargers at all federal government buildings and is also expected to sell off the General Services Administration‘s (GSA) newly bought EVs. GSA, which manages all federal government-owned buildings, also operates the federal buildings’ EV chargers. Federally owned EVs and federal employee-owned personal EVs are charged on those 8,000 charging ports. The Verge reports it’s been told by a source that plans will be officially announced internally next week, and it’s seen an email that GSA has already sent to regional offices about the plans: “As GSA has worked to align with the current administration, we have received direction that all GSA-owned charging stations are not mission-critical.” The GSA is working on the timing of canceling current network contracts that keep the EV chargers operational. Once those contracts are canceled, the stations will be taken out of service and “turned off at the breaker,” the email reads. Other chargers will be turned off starting next week. “Neither Government Owned Vehicles nor Privately Owned Vehicles …

MPs agree measures to shut illegal schools

MPs agree measures to shut illegal schools

Published by skeptic

MPs on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Committee debated and passed the clauses that would enable the inspection and closing of illegal faith schools. MPs heard how an expanded list of offences, granting Ofsted increased powers of entry, and new mechanisms to access warrants to investigate unregistered schools would enable illegal faith schools to be identified and criminal cases brought against them. These new powers and legislative clauses are the culmination of Humanists UK’s decade-long campaign to close illegal faith schools. Now confirmed in the Bill at Committee Stage, they will form part of the Bill that goes forward to Report Stage and then, if passed, onto the House of Lords for further scrutiny. The Minister for Early Education, Stephen Morgan, explained how the Bill will tackle the issue of unregistered schools and those who run them: ‘The measures strike the correct balance of ensuring that Ofsted can fulfil its statutory function of identifying criminal behaviour in connection with illegal, unregistered schools and so better protect children who may be attending unsafe settings, while …

AI Hardware Is in Its ‘Put Up or Shut Up’ Era

AI Hardware Is in Its ‘Put Up or Shut Up’ Era

Published by skeptic

Whether any of them will implement chatbots and agents well or in new and exciting ways is much harder to say. While the addition of AI may have been enough to garner the investment needed to build a device, it may not be enough to get people to actually buy the thing. Chatbots and AI agents don’t yet provide enough of a use case to justify people pinning them to their shirts en masse. We’re also at a point of AI saturation where the tech is in everything. So then, what makes your AI earbuds special? “That’s the problem a lot of these startups have; if AI is their differentiator, then what happens when everybody has it?” Sag says. “It’s now table stakes.” Wearables and devices built specifically to provide some AI-powered services may have seemed like the logical next step in the AI evolution, but so far the utility we’re getting from them doesn’t push any boundaries. “The reality is we don’t need dedicated hardware for the kind of features or use cases that …

Don’t Let Terror Shut America Down

Don’t Let Terror Shut America Down

Published by skeptic

Playing the Sugar Bowl—and defiantly proceeding with our lives—is the best response to an attack. Geoff Burke / USA Today Network via Reuters January 1, 2025, 1:46 PM ET Updated on January 1, 2025, at 2:43 p.m. ET Despite the devastating terror attack that killed at least 10 people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, it seemed at first as though the Sugar Bowl college-football playoff game would continue tonight in the city’s Superdome, less than two miles from the carnage. This afternoon, officials announced they would postpone the game for at least 24 hours. Getting on with activities as normal, to whatever extent is possible, is the correct approach. Responses to terror or violent attacks need to be based on the specifics of the incident, but the default should always be to remain open. A nation, any nation, must have the capacity to mourn and move forward simultaneously. The question isn’t whether proceeding with scheduled events is disrespectful to those who have been directly affected …

Humanists UK welcomes Government Bill to shut illegal schools

Humanists UK welcomes Government Bill to shut illegal schools

Published by skeptic

The Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which was announced in the 2024 King’s Speech, will receive its First Reading in Parliament today. Humanists UK has welcomed proposals including a Children Not in School Register and legislation to close loopholes that enable the continued operation of illegal faith schools. The Bill also includes a requirement for all state-funded schools including academies to teach the National Curriculum, and proposes giving local councils greater powers to make sure schools’ admissions process reflects local needs. Humanists UK’s Education Campaigns Manager Lewis Young said: ‘We are delighted by today’s introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. It is a landmark package of reforms, including much-needed – and long overdue – action to close illegal schools. ‘We look forward to seeing the Bill in more detail, and working with the Government to develop these proposals.’ The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will be formally introduced by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and have its first reading in the House of Commons today (17 December). Source link

Longtime Art Authentication Nonprofit IFAR to Shut Down After 55 Years

Longtime Art Authentication Nonprofit IFAR to Shut Down After 55 Years

Published by skeptic

The New York-based arts organization International Foundation for Art Research announced on Friday that it was shutting down after 55 years in operation. The organization, founded in 1969, is a nonprofit education and research organization that provides “information on authenticity, ownership, theft, and other artistic, legal, and ethical issues concerning art objects,” according to its website. The nonprofit had published the quarterly IFAR Journal, offered research services on art authentication and provenance, hosted databases such as the Catalogue Raisonné Database and the Art Law & Cultural Property Database, and organized conferences, panels, and lectures around art authenticity and other topics. Related Articles IFAR announced that the decision to wind down operations came after a six month assessment, conducted this year, of its activities and finances. “Since our inception in 1969, IFAR has been dedicated to advocating for the rightful ownership of cultural heritage, promoting transparency in the art market, and ensuring that works of art are recognized for their true origins and histories. Our efforts have sparked important conversations, driven meaningful change, and supported numerous initiatives …

Warlord Straight Out of “Mad Max” Says Elon Musk Remotely Shut Down His Cybertruck

Warlord Straight Out of “Mad Max” Says Elon Musk Remotely Shut Down His Cybertruck

Published by José

“How could you do that, Elon?” Technical Issue Russian warlord and leader of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov has accused Elon Musk of “remotely disabling” his Tesla Cybertruck. Oh yeah: he owns one of these things. Didn’t you hear? Kadyrov, who was installed as Chechnya’s leader in 2007 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, first showed off his flashy ride in August. In a video he shared on Telegram, the warlord can be seen tooling around the grounds of his presidential palace in what sure looks like a genuine Cybertruck — except for one small difference: it’s been turned into a technical mounted with a huge machine gun, which Kadyrov brandishes while garbed in outrageous bandoliers like the Bullet Farmer character in 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road.” With it geared up for war, Kadyrov claimed that he’d sent the electric pickup to the frontlines of Ukraine, where it has since been “performing well in combat.” That is, until it stopped working all of a sudden. “Now, recently, Musk remotely disabled the Cybertruck,” Kadyrov wrote in a …

3 Ways to Restart or Force Shut Down Any Frozen Mac

3 Ways to Restart or Force Shut Down Any Frozen Mac

Published by skeptic

When your Mac freezes and won’t respond, you may need to force it to shut down. Here, we’ll discuss three methods to do that, but be cautious, as forced shutdowns can lead to data loss or file corruption. 1 Hold the Power Button Every Mac has a power button. On MacBooks, you’ll usually find the power button at the top-right of your keyboard or Touch Bar. It may have a power symbol or an eject symbol on it, or it may be a blank Touch ID sensor. Force-shutting down your Mac may cause you to lose unsaved progress in open documents and may even result in corrupted macOS files. Save a hard shutdown only for desperate times. Apple On an iMac, you’ll find the power button behind the bottom-left corner of the screen. If you’re looking at the back of your iMac, it’s on the bottom right. On a Mac mini, you’ll find a small power button on the back. Apple To force shut down your Mac, press and hold the power button until the …

Liam Gallagher jokes about price of Oasis tickets as he tells fan to ‘shut up’ | Ents & Arts News

Liam Gallagher jokes about price of Oasis tickets as he tells fan to ‘shut up’ | Ents & Arts News

Published by skeptic

Liam Gallagher has joked about the price of Oasis tickets after fans were left frustrated after being charged over-inflated prices for tickets. In a series of expletive-laden tweets, the Oasis frontman said: “OASIS are back [you’re] welcome and I hear [their] ATTITUDE STINKS, good to know something’s never change F******.” Asked by one fan if he had any spare tickets, he replied: “Shit loads but [they’re] really expensive 100 thousand pounds. Kneeling only.” In response to someone who wrote: “Didn’t expect them to rip the fans off as much as they have done. It’s genuinely a shame,” Gallagher replied: “SHUTUP.” When someone asked how his mother Peggy felt about the reunion, Gallagher responded: “She’s gutted she couldn’t get a ticket”. Asked how he was feeling, he replied: “SMUG only kidding SMUG AS F*** I told you all we were gonna get back together one fine day.” Image: Noel and Liam Gallagher. Pic: oasisinet.com It comes as Oasis topped the UK’s Official Albums Chart with their debut album Definitely Maybe, 30 years after its release. It …

GOP called out for “pro-labor” rebrand: They “want working class people to sit down and shut up”

GOP called out for “pro-labor” rebrand: They “want working class people to sit down and shut up”

Published by Sam

At the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, United Auto Workers (UAW) president Shawn Fain sported a shirt that read “Trump is a Scab,” making it clear that his union stood with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. “For us in the labor movement it’s real simple: Kamala Harris is one of us,” Fain said in his speech.  His support isn’t surprising. Historically, most labor unions have supported Democrats. But this election season, Republicans has made a deliberate effort to appeal to the working class. Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien, the head of America’s largest union, became the first-ever union president to speak at the Republican National Convention last month. “President Trump had the backbone to open the doors to this Republican convention, and that’s unprecedented. No other nominee in the race would have invited the Teamsters into this arena,” said O’Brien. O’Brien’s appearance at the event was a shock to many, but it’s part of a larger campaign by Trump’s Republican Party to rebrand itself as pro-labor and move away from …