American Sign Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

American Sign Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio

I Think I Smell the Honeysuckle Vine

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

I Think I Smell the Honeysuckle Vine

When You Were Mine

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

When You Were Mine

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Cyberattack Delays Flights at Several of Europe's Major Airports

"A cyberattack targeting check-in and boarding systems disrupted air traffic and caused delays at several of Europe's major airports on Saturday," reports the Associated Press.

"While the impact on travelers appeared to be limited, experts said the intrusion exposed vulnerabilities in security systems."

The disruptions to electronic systems initially reported at Brussels, Berlin's Brandenburg and London's Heathrow airports meant that only manual check-in and boarding was possible. Many other European airports said their operations were unaffected... Airports said the issue centered around a provider of check-in and boarding systems — not airlines or the airports themselves. Collins Aerospace, whose systems help passengers check themselves in, print boarding passes and bag tags and dispatch their luggage from a kiosk, cited a "cyber-related disruption" to its MUSE (Multi-User System Environment) software at "select airports."
Brussels Airport initially reported a "large impact" on flight schedules," according to the article, with a spokesperson telling broadcaster VTM that by mid-morning nine flights had been canceled, with four more redirected to another airport and 15 delayed an hour or more. The airport later told Reuters there were "delays on most of the departing flights."


Reuters notes it's "the latest in a string of hacks targeting governments and companies across the world, hitting sectors from healthcare and defence to retail and autos.:

A recent breach at luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover brought its production to a halt...

At Heathrow, Berlin and Brussels, 29 flight departures and arrivals had been cancelled as of 1130 GMT, aviation data provider Cirium said. In total, 651 departures were scheduled from Heathrow, 228 from Brussels and 226 from Berlin on Saturday... Brussels Airport said it had asked airlines to cancel half of their scheduled departing flights on Sunday to avoid long queues and late cancellations, signalling that the disruption would continue through the weekend.
A European Commission spokesperson said there were currently no indications of a "widespread or severe attack" and that the origin of the incident was still under investigation.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Doomed 'Cannibal' Star Could Explode In a Supernova Visible During Day

"Betelgeuse may have competition for the most exciting star about to go nova near Earth," writes Space.com.

"Astronomers have discovered the secret of a strange star system that has baffled them for years, finding it contains a dead star about to erupt after overfeeding on a stellar companion."

The supernova explosion of this cosmic cannibal could be as bright as the moon, making it visible with the naked eye over Earth even in broad daylight. The system in question is the double star V Sagittae located around 10,000 light-years from Earth, containing a white dwarf stellar remnant and its victim companion star, which orbit each other roughly twice every Earth day. The new research and the revelation of this white dwarf's imminent catastrophic fate answer questions about V Sagittae that have lingered for 123 years...

White dwarfs represent the final stage of stars with masses around that of the sun, occurring when they run out of fuel for nuclear fusion... [W]hite dwarfs that have a stellar companion can get a second lease on life and a more conclusive and explosive end... [T]he stolen stellar material piles up on the surface of the white dwarf until it pushes this stellar remnant past the so-called Chandrasekhar limit of 1.4 solar masses. This is the mass limit that a stellar remnant has to exceed to trigger a supernova...

However, this team found something very different and extraordinary happening with the stellar material being stolen by the white dwarf in V Sagittae... This investigation revealed that there is a giant halo of gas comprised of material stolen from the companion star wrapped around both the cannibal white dwarf and its stellar victim... "The white dwarf cannot consume all the mass being transferred from its hot star twin, so it creates this bright cosmic ring," team member Pasi Hakala from the University of Turku said. "The speed at which this doomed stellar system is lurching wildly, likely due to the extreme brightness, is a frantic sign of its imminent, violent end."
"The matter accumulating on the white dwarf is likely to produce a nova outburst in the coming years, during which V Sagittae would become visible with the naked eye," Pablo Rodríguez-Gil from Spain's Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias said. "But when the two stars finally smash into each other and explode, this would be a supernova explosion so bright it'll be visible from Earth even in the daytime."
The research was conducted with the Very Large Telescope (four individual telescopes high in the mountains of Chile) — and published last week in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

There Isn't an AI Bubble - There Are Three

Fast Company ran a contrarian take about AI from entrepreneur/thought leader Faisal Hoque, who argues there's three AI bubbles.

The first is a classic speculative bubble, with asset prices soaring above their fundamental values (like the 17th century's Dutch "tulip mania"). "The chances of this not being a bubble are between slim and none..."

Second, AI is also arguably in what we might call an infrastructure bubble, with huge amounts being invested in infrastructure without any certainty that it will be used at full capacity in the future. This happened multiple times in the later 1800s, as railroad investors built thousands of miles of unneeded track to serve future demand that never materialized. More recently, it happened in the late '90s with the rollout of huge amount of fiber optic cable in anticipation of internet traffic demand that didn't turn up until decades later. Companies are pouring billions into GPUs, power systems, and cooling infrastructure, betting that demand will eventually justify the capacity. McKinsey analysts talk of a $7 trillion "race to scale data centers" for AI, and just eight projects in 2025 already represent commitments of over $1 trillion in AI infrastructure investment. Will this be like the railroad booms and busts of the late 1800s? It is impossible to say with any kind of certainty, but it is not unreasonable to think so.
Third, AI is certainly in a hype bubble, which is where the promise claimed for a new technology exceeds reality, and the discussion around that technology becomes increasingly detached from likely future outcomes. Remember the hype around NFTs? That was a classic hype bubble. And AI has been in a similar moment for a while. All kinds of media — social, print, and web — are filled with AI-related content, while AI boosterism has been the mood music of the corporate world for the last few years. Meanwhile, a recent MIT study reported that 95% of AI pilot projects fail to generate any returns at all.

But the article ultimately argues there's lessons in the 1990s dotcom boom: that "a thing can be hyped beyond its actual capabilities while still being important... When valuations correct — and they will — the same pattern will emerge: companies that focus on solving real problems with available technology will extract value before, during, and after the crash." The winners will be companies with systematic approaches to extracting value — adopting mixed portfolios with different time horizons and risk levels, while recognizing organizational friction points for a purposeful (and holistic) integration.

"The louder the bubble talk, the more space opens for those willing to take a methodical approach to building value."

Thanks to Slashdot reader Tony Isaac for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

In afgeladen en opgewonden Gelredome vliegt arend Hertog II weer haar rondje alsof Vitesse nooit is weggeweest

Nadat clubsymbool Hertog II haar ronde vloog door het uitverkochte Gelredome, knokte Vitesse zich naar de eerste zege sinds de opmerkelijke wederopstanding. “Ze is er altijd klaar voor”, zegt haar valkenier.

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Politie zoekt doorgereden automobilist na zwaar ongeval op A27

BAVEL (ANP) - De politie is op zoek naar een automobilist die is doorgereden na een zwaar ongeval op de A27 ter hoogte van Bavel (Noord-Brabant). Bij het ongeluk raakte een persoon zwaargewond.

Tijdens de botsing tussen twee voertuigen werd een van de inzittenden uit een auto geslingerd. De persoon kwam op het wegdek terecht, waar het slachtoffer door een derde voertuig zou zijn geraakt. De bestuurder van die auto is doorgereden.

De politie vraagt de bestuurder en getuigen zich te melden. Vanwege onderzoek naar de toedracht van het ongeval is de verbindingsweg naar de A58 richting Tilburg afgesloten.


Motorrijder overleden door ongeval op A2

DEN BOSCH (ANP) - Een 30-jarige motorrijder uit Oss is zaterdagavond overleden bij een ongeval op de A2 ter hoogte van Den Bosch.

De politie trof op enkele honderden meters van het ongeval een auto aan met schade die erop wijst dat het voertuig betrokken was bij het ongeluk. De inzittende of inzittenden van deze auto zijn spoorloos. De politie roept deze persoon of personen op zich te melden en is ook op zoek naar getuigen van het ongeval.

De toedracht van het ongeluk is nog niet duidelijk. Verkeersspecialisten doen volgens de politie onderzoek op de plaats van het ongeluk. De weg is daardoor gedeeltelijk afgesloten.


Zes journalisten gewond bij rellen Den Haag

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Bij de rellen in Den Haag zijn zaterdag zes journalisten gewond geraakt door toedoen van demonstranten, liet de organisatie PersVeilig weten. Volgens de organisatie, een meldpunt voor geweld en agressie tegen journalisten, gaat het om vijf fotografen en één tv-journalist. Ze hoefden niet naar het ziekenhuis.

Eerder zaterdag zei de organisatie twee meldingen van journalisten te hebben gekregen. Zij werden "van achter aangevallen door demonstranten en kregen flinke klappen. Ze hebben blauwe plekken, maar hoefden gelukkig niet naar het ziekenhuis", zei Peter ter Velde, projectleider van PersVeilig daarover.

Een demonstratie voor strenger asielbeleid liep uit de hand. De politie werd belaagd met onder meer stenen, flessen en vuurwerk. Ook werden ruiten van het partijkantoor van D66 in het centrum van Den Haag ingegooid.

Twee agenten raakten gewond. Er zijn ruim dertig relschoppers aangehouden. Burgemeester Jan van Zanen van Den Haag noemde de geweldsuitbarsting "ongehoord en Nederland onwaardig".