Dispelled.ca Homepage

Welcome to our little spot on the Internet. Finally got it back to the basics. This site is made only from a few PHP files and a flat file directory structure.

Things will get broken, and things will get better. Cheers.

New Links!

New in Code: (Oct 20 2024)
Starting with Github - Create a new repository on the command line

New in Code: (Oct 14 2024)
The Branch command for Assembly in Arm64 with GDB

Starting to learn Assembly for ARMV8 with a Khadas Vim3 and Ubuntu 24.04

Debugging Assembly code for Arm64 with GDB

New in Cpus: (Oct 14 2024)
Re-installing ProtonVPN on Ubuntu 24.04 for ARM

Old School News Feeds (RSS) How?

Slashdot

Controversial 'Arsenic Life' Paper Retracted After 15 Years

"So far, all lifeforms on Earth have a phosphorous-based chemistry, particularly as the backbone of DNA," writes longtime Slashdot reader bshell. "In 2010, a paper was published in Science claiming that arsenic-based bacteria were living in a California lake (in place of phosphorous). That paper was finally retracted by the journal Science the other day." From a report: : Some scientists are celebrating the move, but the paper's authors disagree with it -- saying that they stand by their data and that a retraction is not merited. In Science's retraction statement, editor-in-chief Holden Thorp says that the journal did not retract the paper when critics published take-downs of the work because, back then, it mostly reserved retractions for cases of misconduct, and "there was no deliberate fraud or misconduct on the part of the authors" of the arsenic-life paper. But since then, Science's criteria for retracting papers have expanded, he writes, and "if the editors determine that a paper's reported experiments do not support its key conclusions," as is the case for this paper, a retraction is now appropriate. "It's good that it's done," says microbiologist Rosie Redfield, who was a prominent critic of the study after its publication in 2010 and who is now retired from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. "Pretty much everybody knows that the work was mistaken, but it's still important to prevent newcomers to the literature from being confused." By contrast, one of the paper's authors, Ariel Anbar, a geochemist at Arizona State University in Tempe, says that there are no mistakes in the paper's data. He says that the data could be interpreted in a number of ways, but "you don't retract because of a dispute about data interpretation." If that's the standard you were to apply, he says, "you'd have to retract half the literature."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Study Finds 'Pressure Point' In the Gulf Could Drive Hurricane Strength

alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Driven by high temperatures in the Gulf, Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified from a Category 3 to Category 5 before making landfall in Southwest Florida on September 28, 2022. The deadly storm caught many by surprise and became the costliest hurricane in state history. Now, researchers from the University of South Florida say they've identified what may have caused Ian to develop so quickly. A strong ocean current called the Loop Current failed to circulate water in the shallow region of the Gulf. As a result, subsurface waters along the West Coast of Florida remained unusually warm during the peak of hurricane season. [...] The researchers found that if the Loop Current reaches an area near the Dry Tortugas, which they call the "pressure point," it can flush warm waters from the West Florida Shelf and replace it with cold water from deeper regions of the Gulf. This pressure point is where the shallow contours of the seafloor converge, forcing cold water to the surface in a process known as upwelling. In the months leading up to Hurricane Ian, the Loop Current did not reach the pressure point, leaving the waters on the shelf unmixed, which caused both the surface and subsurface waters on the West Florida Shelf to remain warm throughout summer. The findings have been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google Set Up Two Robotic Arms For a Game of Infinite Table Tennis

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Popular Science: On the early evening of June 22, 2010, American tennis star John Isner began a grueling Wimbledon match against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut that would become the longest in the sport's history. The marathon battle lasted 11 hours and stretched across three consecutive days. Though Isner ultimately prevailed 70-68 in the fifth set, some in attendance half-jokingly wondered at the time whether the two men might be trapped on that court for eternity. A similarly endless-seeming skirmish of rackets is currently unfolding just an hour's drive south of the All England Club -- at Google DeepMind. Known for pioneering AI models that have outperformed the best human players at chess and Go, DeepMind now has a pair of robotic arms engaged in a kind of infinite game of table tennis. The goal of this ongoing research project, which began in 2022, is for the two robots to continuously learn from each other through competition. Just as Isner eventually adapted his game to beat Mahut, each robotic arm uses AI models to shift strategies and improve. But unlike the Wimbledon example, there's no final score the robots can reach to end their slugfest. Instead, they continue to compete indefinitely, with the aim of improving at every swing along the way. And while the robotic arms are easily beaten by advanced human players, they've been shown to dominate beginners. Against intermediate players, the robots have roughly 50/50 odds -- placing them, according to researchers, at a level of "solidly amateur human performance." All of this, as two researchers involved noted this week in an IEEE Spectrum blog, is being done in hopes of creating an advanced, general-purpose AI model that could serve as the "brains" of humanoid robots that may one day interact with people in real-world factories, homes, and beyond. Researchers at DeepMind and elsewhere are hopeful that this learning method, if scaled up, could spark a "ChatGPT moment" for robotics -- fast-tracking the field from stumbling, awkward hunks of metal to truly useful assistants. "We are optimistic that continued research in this direction will lead to more capable, adaptable machines that can learn the diverse skills needed to operate effectively and safely in our unstructured world," DeepMind senior staff engineer Pannag Sanketi and Arizona State University Professor Heni Ben Amor write in IEEE Spectrum.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Pebble Is Officially Pebble Again

Pebble smartwatches are officially reclaiming their iconic name after Core Devices CEO Eric Migicovsky successfully recovered the Pebble trademark. "Great news -- we've been able to recover the trademark for Pebble! Honestly, I wasn't expecting this to work out so easily," Core Devices CEO Eric Migicovsky writes in an update blog. "Core 2 Duo is now Pebble 2 Duo. Core Time 2 is now Pebble Time 2." The Verge reports: As a refresher, Pebble was one of the OG smartwatches. Despite a loyal customer base, however, it wasn't able to compete with bigger names like Fitbit, the Apple Watch, or Samsung. In 2016, Pebble was acquired by Fitbit for $23 million, marking the end of the first Pebble era. Along the way, Fitbit was acquired by Google. That's important because the tech giant agreed to open-source Pebble's software, and Migicovsky announced earlier this year that Pebble was making a comeback. However, because Migicovsky didn't have the trademark, the new Pebble watches were initially dubbed the Core 2 Duo and the Core Time 2. "With the recovery of the Pebble trademark, that means you too can use the word Pebble for Pebble related software and hardware projects," Migicovsky writes, acknowledging Pebble's history of community development.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Meta Names Shengjia Zhao As Chief Scientist of AI Superintelligence Unit

Meta has appointed Shengjia Zhao as Chief Scientist of its new Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Zhao was a former OpenAI researcher known for his work on ChatGPT, GPT-4, and the company's first AI reasoning model, o1. "I'm excited to share that Shengjia Zhao will be the Chief Scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs," Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads Friday. "Shengjia co-founded the new lab and has been our lead scientist from day one. Now that our recruiting is going well and our team is coming together, we have decided to formalize his leadership role." TechCrunch reports: Zhao will set a research agenda for MSL under the leadership of Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI who was recently hired to lead the new unit. Wang, who does not have a research background, was viewed as a somewhat unconventional choice to lead an AI lab. The addition of Zhao, who is a reputable research leader known for developing frontier AI models, rounds out the leadership team. To further fill out the unit, Meta has hired several high-level researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Safe Superintelligence, Apple, and Anthropic, as well as pulling researchers from Meta's existing Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab and generative AI unit. Zuckerberg notes in his post that Zhao has pioneered several breakthroughs, including a "new scaling paradigm." The Meta CEO is likely referencing Zhao's work on OpenAI's reasoning model, o1, in which he is listed as a foundational contributor alongside OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Meta currently doesn't offer a competitor to o1, so AI reasoning models are a key area of focus for MSL. The Information reported in June that Zhao would be joining Meta Superintelligence Labs, alongside three other influential OpenAI researchers -- Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren. Meta has also recruited Trapit Bansal, another OpenAI researcher who worked on AI reasoning models with Zhao, as well as three employees from OpenAI's Zurich office who worked on multimodality.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ars Technica

Microsoft to stop using China-based teams to support Department of Defense

The tech giant has relied on global workforce to support federal clients.

This aerogel and some sun could make saltwater drinkable

Previous aerogels didn't work on a scale that was large enough to matter.

After BlackSuit is taken down, new ransomware group Chaos emerges

As BlackSuit's dark web site goes dark, Chaos is already around to pick up the slack.

Starlink kept me connected to the Internet without fail—until Thursday

"Starlink went down across the entire front."

North Korean hackers ran US-based “laptop farm” from Arizona woman’s home

North Korea made millions from the scheme.

Widely panned arsenic life paper gets retracted—15 years after brouhaha

Opinions are mixed on the retraction, and the authors continue to defend their work.

Echelon kills smart home gym equipment offline capabilities with update

Update also blocks compatibility with popular third-party apps.

OpenAI’s most capable AI model, GPT-5, may be coming in August

Sources say new model combines o3 reasoning with general GPT capabilities.

Remembering Descent, the once-popular, fully 3D 6DOF shooter

Descent is a big part of gaming history, but not many people talk about it.

Delta’s AI spying to “jack up” prices must be banned, lawmakers say

Lawmakers want to prevent companies from using AI to increase prices or lower wages.

Mistral’s new “environmental audit” shows how much AI is hurting the planet

Individual prompts don't cost much, but billions together can have aggregate impact.

The electric Stark Varg EX is brutally fast but a little too unrefined

This all-electric enduro monster needs a little more time in the oven.

Supply-chain attacks on open source software are getting out of hand

Attacks affected packages, including one with ~2.8 million weekly downloads.

Inventor claims bleach injections will destroy cancer tumors

A lack of medical training isn't stopping a man from charging $20,000 for the treatment.

Skydance deal allows Trump’s FCC to “censor speech” and “silence dissent” on CBS

FCC now has “never-before-seen controls” over a newsroom, commissioner warns.

Going chain-free with the Priority Gemini gravel bike

Gravel is even more fun when cleanup is a breeze.

The 2025 Audi RS 3 is a five-cylinder firecracker

The updated compact sedan packs personality into an accessible package.

Rocket Report: Channeling the future at Wallops; SpaceX recovers rocket wreckage

China's Space Pioneer seems to be back on track a year after an accidental launch.

Lawmakers writing NASA’s budget want a cheaper upper stage for the SLS rocket

Eliminating the Block 1B upgrade now would save NASA at least $500 million per year.

Two major AI coding tools wiped out user data after making cascading mistakes

"I have failed you completely and catastrophically," wrote Gemini.

Rebel News

BREAKING: Montrealers, police gather outside church hosting Christian rocker, Sean Feucht

First Nations request $704M to exhume alleged graves

Canada's housing crisis deepens as Liberal promises crumble

Pam Bondi allegedly told Trump he was named in Epstein files

We’ve launched a petition to save Christian rockstar Sean Feucht

You work for Ottawa now: Taxes eat up more than housing, food & clothing combined

Doug Ford announces thousands of work permits to be issued to asylum seekers

'Complete disgrace': Cancel culture comes for Christian rocker touring Canada

Convoy lawyer Eva Chipiuk speaks out after being DEBANKED by RBC

Danielle Smith and Doug Ford join call to save B.C. ostriches facing cull order

CBC's $1.5 billion lie machine: Fake graves and smear campaigns

Trump frustrated with Canada over trade talks

Car RAMS into Christian rocker’s tour bus, more venues cancel shows

New study links COVID shots to cellular chaos

🔴 Cancel mob targets Christian rockstar, Crime keeps rising, 60K public job cuts | Rebel Roundtable

Corporate elites, politicians profit from Canada’s immigration crisis

Offside! Who’s the bozo that hired Ron ‘The Rat’ MacLean to narrate ‘buy Canadian’ ads?

Senator, some Liberal MPs back voting at 16

B.C. nurse Amy Hamm is fighting back after being fired for criticizing gender ideology

Mainstream media defames UCP candidate with same name as man convicted for contempt

The Gateway Pundit

An extremely popular women-only app which allows users to share personal information about men suffered a significant security breach, allowing the identities of thousands of its users to be leaked online.

Legendary Coach Nick Saban Backs Trump Order on Paying College Athletes as a ‘Huge Step’ in Fixing a Broken Model

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban praised President Donald Trump’s new executive order as a key step in safeguarding the purity left in college sports.

The post Legendary Coach Nick Saban Backs Trump Order on Paying College Athletes as a ‘Huge Step’ in Fixing a Broken Model appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

President Trump and His Team Respond After Formerly Anti-Woke South Park Thrills the Left By Launching Absolutely Disgusting Attacks on Trump (VIDEO)

The formerly anti-woke adult cartoon South Park decided to go hard-core left and thrill liberals earlier this week in its season premiere, targeting President Trump in the most disgusting way imaginable.

The post President Trump and His Team Respond After Formerly Anti-Woke South Park Thrills the Left By Launching Absolutely Disgusting Attacks on Trump (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Federal Judge Sanctions Alabama Lawyers for Submitting Fake AI‑Generated Case Citations, Highlighting Systemic, Ongoing AI Problems Making up Facts

OpenAI founder Sam Altman says that soon, everything everywhere will start using Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models for entire professions, causing them to “disappear.” Meanwhile, people actually using these services, including attorneys in Alabama, are being sanctioned for the pervasive AI/LLM flaw of ‘hallucinating’ fake citations and fake references.

The post Federal Judge Sanctions Alabama Lawyers for Submitting Fake AI‑Generated Case Citations, Highlighting Systemic, Ongoing AI Problems Making up Facts appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Social Media Users Light Up Anti-Semitic Rep. Rashida Tlaib With Hilarious Replies After Seeing Her Bizarre Stunt Outside the U.S. Capitol (VIDEO)

Anti-Semitic Rep.

The post Social Media Users Light Up Anti-Semitic Rep. Rashida Tlaib With Hilarious Replies After Seeing Her Bizarre Stunt Outside the U.S. Capitol (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

More Winning: UVA Business School Drops DEI After Federal Government Pressure

According to Campus Reform, the University of Virginia’s business school has “ended its relationship with two programs dedicated to increasing diversity in the business field.” This school of business had reportedly been in a partnership with the “Consortium for Graduate Study in Management” for 32 years.

The post More Winning: UVA Business School Drops DEI After Federal Government Pressure appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Peter Hotez PANICS After Heavily-Vaxxed Caller Reveals “Worst Experience Ever” Post-Booster

This story originally appeared on VigilantFox.com and was republished with permission.

The post Peter Hotez PANICS After Heavily-Vaxxed Caller Reveals “Worst Experience Ever” Post-Booster appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Feds reveal dozens of organ donors may not have been dead when ‘procurement’ processes started!

This article originally appeared on WND.com Guest post by Bob Unruh And 73 exhibited ‘neurological signs incompatible with donation.’ The U.S.

The post Feds reveal dozens of organ donors may not have been dead when ‘procurement’ processes started! appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

NFL Star Says He’s ‘Excited’ to Play for the ‘Washington Redskins’ After Trump Calls Out Team on Name Change

NFL veteran Von Miller referred to his new team by their former moniker Thursday, just days after President Donald Trump called on the Washington Commanders to reverse their name change.

The post NFL Star Says He’s ‘Excited’ to Play for the ‘Washington Redskins’ After Trump Calls Out Team on Name Change appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Federal Immigration Judges Abruptly Fired Over Email Lash Out at President Trump Over Their Terminations (VIDEO)

Federal immigration judges fired by the Trump Administration over e-mail this month lashed out at Trump in an interview with CBS Evening News.

The post Federal Immigration Judges Abruptly Fired Over Email Lash Out at President Trump Over Their Terminations (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

DNC Chair Ken Martin Says His Party Has Hit Rock Bottom: ‘Only One Direction to Go, And That’s Up’

Ken Martin, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), recently suggested that his party has hit rock bottom, and that this is a good thing because they have nowhere to go but up.

The post DNC Chair Ken Martin Says His Party Has Hit Rock Bottom: ‘Only One Direction to Go, And That’s Up’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Law Professor Jonathan Turley Says This Person is the Most Vulnerable Member of the Anti-Trump Deep State (VIDEO)