America "is facing what's projected to become the largest labor shortage in its history," according to experts interviewed by the Washington Post:



Economists warn that the worsening labor problem, due in part to a skills shortage and population shifts, will be vast and reach beyond tech. It "could hobble the American economy for years to come," predicts the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Lightcast, a labor market data company, calls it "the largest labor shortage the country has ever seen." JPMorgan Chase warns of a national security risk from "a pervasive talent deficit that constrains the nation's capacity to build, compete, and protect its interests." There will be shortages in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of nurses, physicians, teachers, engineers, pharmacists, mental health counselors, construction worker and airplane mechanics — jobs AI generally can't do...

Among the trends that have been leading to this moment: a mismatch between the careers college graduates are pursuing and the jobs employers are struggling to fill. Far fewer students are majoring in health care fields than are needed to meet demand, for instance. "We have pumped so many young people into business and finance" when what's really in demand are graduates in other fields, [said Ron Hetrick, Lightcast's principal economist]. "It's like a factory producing these workers like widgets, even though society is saying, 'We really don't need them.' And the factory just keeps pumping them out." But the principal reason for the looming workforce shortages is much more basic. A protracted decline in birth rates is coinciding with a record wave of retirements, data shows.

From 2024 to 2032, when the last baby boomers sign up for Social Security payments, more than 18 million college-educated workers will leave the labor force while fewer than 14 million enter it, according to the Georgetown center. Meanwhile, even as the number of people with associate and bachelor's degrees falls, the number of jobs requiring them will grow, the center forecasts. That will leave a gap of 4.6 million workers. Lightcast puts the deficit at an even higher 6 million... The effect of population shifts on the supply of talent, with or without degrees, has been compounded by a drop in the proportion of high school graduates choosing to go to college, a sharply reduced rate of immigration, and a growing number of Americans leaving the workforce altogether because of such issues as lack of child care, early retirement, incarceration and substance addiction, according to the Chamber of Commerce.


Three interesting statistics from the article:

U.S. college/university enrollment in 2023 was down by nearly 2 million students since its peak in 2010, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Education Department.
America's low birth rate since 2010 "means the number of college-age Americans is forecast to decline by another 13 percent through 2041."
South Dakota has just 41 workers for every 100 open jobs... while California and nine other states have more workers than jobs, the Chamber of Commerce found.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Long-time Slashdot reader necro81 writes: There are several companies, such as Tesla, trying to make semi trucks fully electric. The capital cost for such a truck, and the MW-scale infrastructure to recharge it, may be a hard sell for some operators. [IEEE Spectrum notes that's a charging infrastructure "that most freight corridors do not yet reliably provide."] But some companies are instead adding batteries and an electric motor to the semi-trailers that trucks haul behind them.

"The Nivalis Powered Trailer Kit centers on an electric axle [rated at 50 kilowatts-peak]... capable of both propulsion assistance and regenerative braking. It draws on a 60-kilowatt-hour, 400-volt lithium-ion battery pack charged from three sources: the axle itself during braking and deceleration, a full-rooftop array of photovoltaic panels generating up to 3.7 kilowatts-peak, and a 32-amp, three-phase AC grid connection available during parking stops."


This approach is more akin to a plug-in hybrid: the truck may still be diesel-powered, but the electric assist from the trailer allows the truck to run more efficiently. Replacing diesel with kWh can save operators money while also reducing emissions. This incremental approach may be more accessible and less capital-intensive than replacing the truck itself.
From the article:

The driver's only window into the system is a small display readable from the cab's side mirror that shows the system status and battery charge level. Nothing about the trailer's handling or licensing requirements changes. The partners project savings of up to 7,000 liters of diesel per trailer per year, which is enough to keep about 19 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the air...

Trailer Dynamics, an Aachen-based company, has conducted field tests with BMW Logistics, DB Schenker, Duvenbeck, and Volkswagen Konzernlogistik, reporting average fuel savings of around 40% for diesel tractor combinations, substantially higher than the up to 18% reduction implied by the Nivalis projection... Trailer Dynamics prices its system between €145,000 and €195,000 and targets a payback period of no more than five years. Nivalis targets five to six years at current costs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide January 1979

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

handwritten on back of photograph, "Uncle Claud and Martha Ann"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

ajpscs posted a photo:

LOTUS & WATER LILIES
ON MY KNEES, I CAN SEE FOREVER
© ajpscs

Corina Machado – die in de VS in ballingschap woont – wilde eind juni via Curaçao naar Venezuela vliegen. In eerste instantie gaf ambassadeur Tazelaar op 24 juni toestemming voor de vlucht naar Curaçao, maar trok die een dag later in nadat zou blijken dat de Amerikanen haar vertrek tóch niet hadden goedgekeurd.

Klarna biedt de mogelijkheid om aankopen te doen en die binnen drie maanden te betalen – een betaalmethode waarvoor een consument niet doorgelicht hoeft te worden op kredietwaardigheid. Een claimstichting meent dat Klarna al die tijd wel die checks had moeten uitvoeren – en claimt daarom 500 miljoen euro.

Het is heet en het wordt steeds heter. Juni was de warmste maand ooit in West-Europa en experts zeggen we hoppen straks van hittegolf naar hittegolf.

WHO, ME? Welcome to the working week, dear reader, which as always we open with a fresh instalment of “Who, Me?” – the reader-contributed column that offers an education in how not to do things at work. This week, meet a reader we’ll Regomize as “Roger” who told us that a decade or so back he managed teams that designed electronic shop tools and associated test kit. Roger admits he had begun to find the job a little boring, and so he sometimes found himself exploring things not strictly related to the job. Which was how he found Nmap, the popular network mapping tool. “One Friday afternoon, with apparently nothing better to do, I started using Nmap to poke around our internal network,” Roger admitted. He enjoyed the experience, and it sparked an idea: Why not run the tool all weekend, to get a view of the entire company’s network? “It was a mid-sized company, with engineering, sales, marketing, admin, and even a factory,” he told The Register. “I was curious how the IT boffins had the network set up and thought it would be fun to run a massive scan of the network over the weekend and see what turned up.” He therefore set Nmap running and left for the weekend. When he arrived at his desk on Monday, Roger couldn’t help but notice his laptop was missing. The next thing he saw was the company’s head of IT approaching “with a haunted, slightly wild-eyed look in his eyes.” Roger immediately recognized this was not a courtesy visit, and so asked him what had happened to his laptop. The IT boss said he and the company’s Chief Operating Officer had both tried using a VPN to hook up to the office over the weekend but could not connect as the network was utterly fried. Troubleshooting efforts led straight to Roger’s laptop, which they promptly disconnected – at which point the network sprang back to life! Roger then endured an interrogation about his machine. “I played dumb,” he admitted. “It was easy enough for me to do and I didn't even have to pretend because I didn't really understand what was going on.” He eventually mentioned a recent visit to the company’s China office and floated a theory he may have picked up a virus in his travels. “This sent the laptop straight into IT isolation/purgatory, where the poor thing endured nearly a week of relentless virus scanning,” Roger admitted. The tech team couldn’t find anything awry and eventually gave Roger a stern talking-to about taking care while travelling before returning the machine. With Nmap still installed. Have your attempts at self-education ended in tears? If so, don’t leave The Register crying for new submissions to Who, Me? Click here to send us an email instead so we can share your experiences on a future Monday. ®

Meta has withdrawn the first image generation product created by its Superintelligence Labs fewer than 72 hours after launch. The product was called “Muse Image” and Meta launched it on July 8, billing it as “the first AI image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs.” That lab is Zuck’s latest big bet and aims to create a “personal superintelligence that knows us deeply, understands our goals, and can help us achieve them.” In the case of Muse AI, that help came in the form of applying one of 30 new filters that “uniquely understand Instagram videos and photos and can interpret your photo's scene — the lighting, composition, and subject — to make nuanced edits that feel natural and true to you.” Instagram users could use those effects to “transform your photos with a single tap,” the social networking company promised. Users could also apply the filters to content posted by third parties. “Meta is also launching the ability to @mention friends’ public Instagram accounts in Meta AI and generate creative AI images featuring them, such as personalized birthday cards, group trip memes, or playful edits between friends. It's an upgrade to what people can create with AI features at Meta, making it more personal, fun, and social,” the company said. Meta almost certainly leads the world in three things: The number of people signed up to its social networks; experience of people behaving horribly online, and; dealing with community backlashes after privacy abuses. Yet somehow it didn’t imagine that enabling this feature by default might be controversial, or that allowing users to alter images with AI might be abused. Backlash was therefore swift and widespread. Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA condemned the product. “Anything other than a clear and conspicuous OPT-IN for these types of uses of Instagram users’ images is unacceptable, and an utter miscalculation of public sentiment regarding the obvious dangers and harms inherent in such use,” it posted on Instagram. Within three days of release, Meta realized the error of its ways and pulled the product. “Earlier this week, we announced that one way for people to generate images in Meta AI is by @-mentioning public Instagram accounts that they want to reference,” the company wrote. “Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way. We've heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available.” Interestingly, Meta says several of the effects it offered were “designed by Instagram creators, who used Meta AI to amplify their creativity and bring their ideas to life.” Zuck believes users of his social networks mostly want to see content made by creators – Meta-speak for prominent accounts who post a lot – rather than content produced by media outlets or others. Involving creators in Meta’s own creative processes has now backfired. ®

jspeter9191 has added a photo to the pool:

In the afternoon at my village(Tallawong) sky, Sydney, Australia.
Jesus loves you.

John from Brisbane has added a photo to the pool:

From Brisbane's south side suburb of Wynnum, you can gaze out to the beautiful Marine Park of Moreton Bay in South East Queensland. Despite the rugged shore here, a bit of muddy sand because of proximity to the mouth of the Brisbane River and mangrove fringed tidal "beaches", there is also a smattering of red volcanic rocks which typify some edges of the bay both sides of the river. This results in the suburb of Redcliffe in the north and Redland Bay in the south. At this point, Wynnum Creek enters into the bay carrying nutrients that support plant and fish life and therefore pelicans that love this spot. In the middle distance is the former penal island of St Helena to which one can cruise and take a tour. It was an offshore "jail" but not a transported convict institution like some early settlements of Australia. The cruise down the river and out into the Bay is a very pleasant trip indeed. In the distance is Moreton Island, one of the large fringing sand islands of Moreton Bay with its magic beauty of Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort (until the early 1970's a whaling station), beautiful western facing sandy beaches, the largest vegetated sand dunes in the world and a colony of sunken small ships forming a superlative dive site.

Keith Midson has added a photo to the pool:

Taroona, Tasmania.

Paardenforum Bokt, een van de oudste nog actieve internetcommunity’s van Nederland en België, heeft juridische problemen en zoekt daar hulp voor. Dat meldden Nu.nl en Tweakers onlangs. De stichting Paard Zoekt Baas eist dat Bokt bepaalde negatieve berichten over de stichting verwijdert, en om zich te verweren moet Bokt een advocaat inschakelen, wat ze niet kan betalen.

Eigenaar Bart legt in een forumpost uit:

Stichting Paard Zoekt Baas heeft Bokt.nl gedagvaard. Kort samengevat gaat de zaak over kritische berichten die gebruikers op Bokt.nl hebben geplaatst. De stichting stelt dat Bokt.nl daarvoor verantwoordelijk is, dat wij berichten sneller hadden moeten verwijderen en daarnaast is er een claim rondom een aantal afbeeldingen. …

Bij de kantonrechter kan in dit soort zaken maximaal €25.000 aan schadevergoeding worden toegewezen. Omdat Stichting Paard Zoekt Baas nu inzet op een hoger schadebedrag, is de zaak doorverwezen naar de handelskamer. Daar mogen we niet meer zelf procederen: vanaf dit moment is een advocaat wettelijk verplicht.

Inhoudelijk is er vast van alles van de claims van de stichting te vinden. Bij Tubantia staat een mooie samenvatting. Veel recensies over de stichting zijn te vinden op Trustpilot. Ouder nieuws hier.

Maar dat is hier niet het probleem. Als je je niet kunt verweren tegen een claim, dan houdt het bij de rechter snel op. Dus het kan gebeuren dat je verliest tegen een kansloze claim enkel omdat je geen advocaat een verweer liet indienen.

Frustrerend, vandaar de fundraiser om alsnog een advocaat in te kunnen huren. Wie dit leest: wil je ook doneren, net als ik?

Velen tipten me het bericht, en stelden dat dit een SLAPP rechtszaak is: een strategic lawsuit against public participation, oftewel een rechtszaak ingestoken om Bokt het zwijgen op te leggen. Zoals ik in oktober blogde, dat is in Europa omschreven als

gerechtelijke procedures die niet worden ingeleid om daadwerkelijk een recht te doen gelden of uit te oefenen, maar die als voornaamste doel het voorkomen, beperken of bestraffen van publieke participatie hebben, waarbij vaak misbruik wordt gemaakt van ongelijke machtsverhoudingen tussen de partijen en ongegronde vorderingen worden ingesteld.

De sanctiemechanismen uit deze wet zijn niet denderend sterk: een proceskostenveroordeling of publicatie van het vonnis, tsja. In Nederland kan hiermee de conclusie worden onderbouwd dat een procespartij misbruik van recht maakt, zodat hun claim moet worden afgewezen. Maar het lastige blijft: de rechter moet dit bepalen en wie daar niet heen kan, krijgt geen gelijk.

Dus: doneren, alstublieft.

Arnoud

Het bericht 25 jaar oude internetcommunity Bokt heeft juridische problemen en zoekt hulp verscheen eerst op Ius Mentis.

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CENTCOM schreef 3 uur geleden het volgende: "Op 12 juli voerde CENTCOM een nieuwe reeks offensieve aanvallen uit op Iran. Hierbij werden met precisiewapens tientallen doelen op meerdere locaties geraakt, met als doel het vermogen van Iran te ondermijnen om aanvallen te blijven uitvoeren op de internationale scheepvaart in de Straat van Hormuz. Strijdkrachten van CENTCOM vielen Iraanse militaire luchtverdedigingssystemen, kustradarinstallaties, raket- en dronecapaciteiten en kleine vaartuigen aan. Hierbij werden Amerikaanse gevechtsvliegtuigen, marineschepen, lucht-zelfmoorddrones  en – voor het eerst – zee-zelfmoorddrones ingezet."

Opmerkelijk, CENTCOM spreekt hier opnieuw van "offensieve aanvallen". Dat deed het op 8 juli voor het eerst, daarvoor werd er (op 11 juni voor het laatst) steeds gesproken van "defensieve aanvallen". Kortom, sinds Trump het nieuwe Iraanse leiderschap weer "SCUM" vindt, is de taal aanvallend. 

De IRGC claimt ondertussen dat het aanvallen heeft uitgevoerd op "de Prince Hassan-vliegbasis in Jordanië, een Amerikaans militair commandocentrum voor drones in Bahrein en vliegbases waaronder Ali Al Salem in Koeweit." Jordanië zegt dat het vier Iraanse raketten neergeschoten heeft en ook Koeweit zegt dat de luchtverdediging actief is, al noemen zij geen cijfers.

Afijn, een schermutseling ter ere van de gisteren plotseling overleden Lindsey Graham, die overigens onmiddellijk reïncarneert als het vijfde kind van Ben Shapiro. Wij gaan weer eens live.

Welkom terug Lindsey Graham

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Houdt onze inlichtenvloot in de lucht!

Doneer hier

Spend a half-hour on a guided tour through two notorious Amsterdam cruising hotspots in the video Inside Dirty D & Eagle - Gay Cruising Clubs Amsterdam: FULL TOUR. Tours given before hours so the clubs are empty. See what even people attending for a night of fun won't see because lights can be strictly forbidden. Adventurous, flirty, perhaps eye-opening.