The US is set to make its final penny. The Philadelphia Mint will strike its last batch of one-cent coins on Thursday, after more than 230 years of production. From a report: The coins will remain in circulation but the phase-out has already prompted businesses to start adjusting prices, as they say pennies are becoming harder to find. The government says the move will save money, or as President Donald Trump put it in February when he first announced the plans: "Rip the waste out of our great nation's budget, even if it's a penny at a time."
Pennies, which honour Civil War president Abraham Lincoln and are made of copper-plated zinc, today cost nearly four cents each to make -- more than twice the cost of a decade ago, according to the Treasury Department. It estimates the decision to end production will save about $56 million a year. Officials have argued that the rise of electronic transactions is making the penny, which first went into production in 1793, increasingly moot. The Treasury Department estimates that about 300 billion of the coins will remain in circulation, "far exceeding the amount needed for commerce."
Pennies, which honour Civil War president Abraham Lincoln and are made of copper-plated zinc, today cost nearly four cents each to make -- more than twice the cost of a decade ago, according to the Treasury Department. It estimates the decision to end production will save about $56 million a year. Officials have argued that the rise of electronic transactions is making the penny, which first went into production in 1793, increasingly moot. The Treasury Department estimates that about 300 billion of the coins will remain in circulation, "far exceeding the amount needed for commerce."
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Apple said Wednesday that European Union developers pocketed the savings from mandated commission reductions rather than lowering prices for consumers. The iPhone maker commissioned Analysis Group to study pricing behavior [PDF] after the Digital Markets Act forced Apple to cut its App Store fees from up to 30% to an average of 20%. The research examined 41 million transactions across 21,000 products between March and September 2024, generating 403 million euros in sales. Developers maintained or raised prices on nine out of 10 products. Non-EU developers captured 86% of the 20.1 million euros in reduced commissions. Price cuts occurred on 9% of products, but the study attributed these to normal pricing patterns unrelated to the fee reduction.
Apple argued the regulation creates barriers for innovators and exposes consumers to risks without delivering promised benefits.
Apple argued the regulation creates barriers for innovators and exposes consumers to risks without delivering promised benefits.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The University of California, San Diego has documented a steep decline in the academic preparation of its entering freshmen over the past five years, according to a report [PDF] released this month by the campus's Senate-Administration Working Group on Admissions. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of students whose math skills fall below middle-school level increased nearly thirtyfold, from roughly 30 to 921 students. These students now represent one in eight members of the entering cohort.
The Mathematics Department redesigned its remedial program this year to focus entirely on elementary and middle school content after discovering students struggled with basic fractions and could not perform arithmetic operations taught in grades one through eight. The deterioration extends beyond mathematics. Nearly one in five domestic freshmen required remedial writing instruction in 2024, returning to pre-pandemic levels after a brief decline.
Faculty across disciplines report students increasingly struggle to engage with longer and complex texts. The decline coincided with multiple disrupting factors. The COVID-19 pandemic forced remote learning starting in spring 2020. The UC system eliminated SAT and ACT requirements in 2021. High school grade inflation accelerated during this period, leaving transcripts unreliable as indicators of actual preparation. UC San Diego simultaneously doubled its enrollment from under-resourced high schools designated LCFF+, admitting more such students than any other UC campus between 2022 and 2024.
The working group concluded that admitting large numbers of underprepared students risks harming those students while straining limited instructional resources. The report recommends developing predictive models to identify at-risk applicants and calls for the UC system to reconsider standardized testing requirements.
The Mathematics Department redesigned its remedial program this year to focus entirely on elementary and middle school content after discovering students struggled with basic fractions and could not perform arithmetic operations taught in grades one through eight. The deterioration extends beyond mathematics. Nearly one in five domestic freshmen required remedial writing instruction in 2024, returning to pre-pandemic levels after a brief decline.
Faculty across disciplines report students increasingly struggle to engage with longer and complex texts. The decline coincided with multiple disrupting factors. The COVID-19 pandemic forced remote learning starting in spring 2020. The UC system eliminated SAT and ACT requirements in 2021. High school grade inflation accelerated during this period, leaving transcripts unreliable as indicators of actual preparation. UC San Diego simultaneously doubled its enrollment from under-resourced high schools designated LCFF+, admitting more such students than any other UC campus between 2022 and 2024.
The working group concluded that admitting large numbers of underprepared students risks harming those students while straining limited instructional resources. The report recommends developing predictive models to identify at-risk applicants and calls for the UC system to reconsider standardized testing requirements.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Dit is in zoverre cartoonkwaad dat je bijna niet kan geloven dat het allemaal echt gebeurd is, maar deze vier goorpijpjes hebben dus eerst bij het Slachthuisplein in Den Haag een homostel bekogeld met blikjes, vervolgens dat stel in elkaar gebeukt, en daarna een kat mishandeld. Eeuwig zonde dat die jongens voorzien zijn van een kloppend hart verder, maar het is niet anders. Deze mensen zou je gunnen: fikse celstraf, met regelmatige douchebeurt met bonkige kerels die weinig ophebben met de fatsoensregels rondom consent inbegrepen. Help ons het leven van dit viertal miserabel te maken, meld svp aan de pliesie wie het zijn.
SergioQ79 - Osanpo Photographer - has added a photo to the pool:
Un tempo questa doveva essere una delle strade centrali di Kagoshima. Ora sembra quasi nascosta, come se la città avesse deciso di dimenticarla. Le insegne rimaste, le unità dei condizionatori, i cavi sospesi — tutto parla di un passato che non vuole scomparire del tutto. Qui il tempo non è fermo, ma stratificato: visibile, inevitabile, e in qualche modo ancora vivo.
かつては鹿児島の中心通りのひとつだったのかもしれない。
今ではまるで街に隠された場所のよう。
残された看板や無数のエアコン、絡み合う電線が、
消えたくても消えない過去を語っている。
ここでは時間が止まるのではなく、積み重なっていく。
静かに、確かに、まだ生きている。
Once, this must have been one of Kagoshima’s main streets. Now it hides, as if the city had chosen to forget it. The signs, the air conditioners, the tangled wires — they all tell of a past that refuses to fade. Time here doesn’t stop; it layers itself, quietly, persistently, still alive beneath the surface.
SergioQ79 - Osanpo Photographer - posted a photo:
Un tempo questa doveva essere una delle strade centrali di Kagoshima. Ora sembra quasi nascosta, come se la città avesse deciso di dimenticarla. Le insegne rimaste, le unità dei condizionatori, i cavi sospesi — tutto parla di un passato che non vuole scomparire del tutto. Qui il tempo non è fermo, ma stratificato: visibile, inevitabile, e in qualche modo ancora vivo.
かつては鹿児島の中心通りのひとつだったのかもしれない。
今ではまるで街に隠された場所のよう。
残された看板や無数のエアコン、絡み合う電線が、
消えたくても消えない過去を語っている。
ここでは時間が止まるのではなく、積み重なっていく。
静かに、確かに、まだ生きている。
Once, this must have been one of Kagoshima’s main streets. Now it hides, as if the city had chosen to forget it. The signs, the air conditioners, the tangled wires — they all tell of a past that refuses to fade. Time here doesn’t stop; it layers itself, quietly, persistently, still alive beneath the surface.
Een belangrijke vermindering van de woningnood zou onstaan als lege of ongebruikte ruimten in bestaande gebrouwen worden omgebouwd tot woningen. Volgens NRC en CBS liggen er honderdduizenden mogelijkheden verborgen in bestaande gebouwen zoals kantoren, winkels en fabriekshallen. De droom: een miljoen extra woningen realiseren zonder nieuwe grond aan te snijden.
Toch zijn de cijfers minder hoopvol dan de ambitie. In 2024 werden in totaal 7.870 woningen toegevoegd via transformatie, een daling van 10% ten opzichte van 2023. Vooral bij winkels halveerde het aantal omgebouwde woningen. Gemiddeld leverde een getransformeerd winkelpand nog maar 2,5 woningen op – in 2023 waren dat er nog 4,1. De meeste transformaties vonden plaats in steden als Rotterdam en Eindhoven, maar regio's als Noord-Holland zagen het aantal zelfs halveren.stadszaken+2
Waarom lukt het niet om die potentie volledig te benutten?
- Veel gebouwen zijn technisch lastig geschikt te maken als woning.
- Er is een gebrek aan panden die economisch rendabel om te bouwen zijn.
- Gemeentelijke regels en procedures belemmeren snelle transformatie.
Toch is het concept aantrekkelijk: het ombouwen is vaak sneller, duurzamer en bovendien goed voor de leefbaarheid van binnensteden. Deskundigen roepen daarom op tot soepelere wetgeving en het bundelen van kennis, zodat meer projecten van de grond komen. Het Nationaal Transformatie Loket probeert gemeenten en ontwikkelaars hierbij te ondersteunen.
Voor wie denkt dat leegstand de sleutel is tot het woningprobleem, geldt voorlopig: de praktijk weerbarstiger dan de theorie – maar de kansen zijn er, als de randvoorwaarden verbeteren.
Het cloudbedrijf waarop DigiD en de digitale postbus MijnOverheid draaien, komt in Amerikaanse handen. Hoewel de verkoop van Solvinity er al jaren aan zat te komen, voelen Nederlandse overheden zich overvallen.
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A group of archaeologists has proposed “applying a model of how humans expanded to the different islands across the Pacific Ocean during their early migration to glean insights into how humanity should manage our colonization of space”.