Climate change set the table for Los Angeles wildfires

Global warming from burning fossil fuels increased the likelihood of extreme fire conditions.

Global warming caused mainly by burning of fossil fuels made the hot, dry, and windy conditions that drove the recent deadly fires around Los Angeles about 35 times more likely to occur, an international team of scientists concluded in a rapid attribution analysis released Tuesday.

Today’s climate, heated 2.3° Fahrenheit (1.3° Celsius) above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, based on a 10-year running average, also increased the overlap between flammable drought conditions and the strong Santa Ana winds that propelled the flames from vegetated open space into neighborhoods, killing at least 28 people and destroying or damaging more than 16,000 structures.

“Climate change is continuing to destroy lives and livelihoods in the US,” said Friederike Otto, senior climate science lecturer at Imperial College London and co-lead of World Weather Attribution, the research group that analyzed the link between global warming and the fires. Last October, a WWA analysis found global warming fingerprints on all 10 of the world’s deadliest weather disasters since 2004.

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AstroForge selects target for “high risk, seat of the pants” asteroid mission

The primary goal is to make sure Odin turns on.

The concept of flying out to distant asteroids and mining them for precious metals is going to seem preposterous right up until the moment that someone actually does it.

It's a terrible business model because it requires years and years of up-front investment and solving myriad technical problems before there's any hope of a financial return. And scooping up material from a rock pile in space is a lot more challenging than mining the Earth. Asteroids are typically millions of miles away, moving tens of thousands of miles per hour relative to the Sun.

Good luck.

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Trump’s new head of DOT rips up US fuel efficiency regulations

Secretary Duffy claims polluting more will make cars cheaper.

US President Donald Trump's pick to run the Department of Transportation was sworn in to his new job yesterday. And as widely expected, Secretary Sean Duffy moved to immediately rip up the nation's fuel efficiency standards.

Duffy issued a memo soon after starting the job on Tuesday evening, ordering the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration "to commence an immediate review and reconsideration of all existing fuel economy standards applicable to all models of motor vehicles produced from model year 2022 forward," with particular attention to the tougher new regulations put in place last year by the Biden administration.

"The memorandum signed today specifically reduces the burdensome and overly restrictive fuel standards that have needlessly driven up the cost of a car in order to push a radical Green New Deal agenda. The American people should not be forced to sacrifice choice and affordability when purchasing a new car," Duffy said in a statement.

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Nvidia Geforce RTX 5080 im Test: Blackwell für den Mainstream

Auf dem Papier bietet die Nvidia Geforce RTX 5080 nur halb so viel Leistung wie die RTX 5090. Tatsächlich arbeitet die Grafikkarte deutlich schneller. Ein Test von Martin Böckmann (Grafikkarten, Nvidia)

Auf dem Papier bietet die Nvidia Geforce RTX 5080 nur halb so viel Leistung wie die RTX 5090. Tatsächlich arbeitet die Grafikkarte deutlich schneller. Ein Test von Martin Böckmann (Grafikkarten, Nvidia)

Streaming prices climb in 2025 after already surpassing inflation rates 

Five services started charging more in January.

If you were hoping for a respite from rising streaming subscription fees in 2025, you’re out of luck. Several streaming providers have already increased monthly and/or annual subscription rates, continuing a disappointing trend from the past few years that doesn’t have a foreseeable end.

Years of pricing and value concerns

Subscribers have generally seen an uptick in how much money they spend to access streaming services. In June, Forbes reported that 44 percent of the 2,000 US streaming users it surveyed who “engage with content for at least an hour daily” said their streaming costs had increased over the prior year.

Deloitte's 2024 Digital Media Trends report found that 48 percent of the 3,517 US consumers it surveyed said that they would cancel their favorite streaming video-on-demand service if the price went up by $5.

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OpenAI: Vom Piraten zum Verfechter des Urheberrechts

Deepseek soll sein KI-Modell aus denen von OpenAI destilliert haben – behauptet OpenAI und pocht scheinheilig auf das Urheberrecht. Ein IMHO von Johannes Hiltscher (KI, Urheberrecht)

Deepseek soll sein KI-Modell aus denen von OpenAI destilliert haben - behauptet OpenAI und pocht scheinheilig auf das Urheberrecht. Ein IMHO von Johannes Hiltscher (KI, Urheberrecht)