An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: In May, the federal government announced without warning that it would take apart a network of ocean monitoring systems that it had spent over $350 million to build. No reason was given for the decision to shut down the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), but suspicion immediately focused on the network's role in tracking climate change. But the OOI also provides data that's useful for weather forecasting and fisheries management, leading to widespread opposition. Today, it appears that the opposition has won, as the government will announce that it's reversing the decision. The big remaining question is how much damage the OOI took during the intervening month.

[...] The OOI is a federally supported resource that provides ocean data for use by academic researchers, government planners, and private companies. It consists of arrays of monitoring systems in several locations in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that can track things like currents, salinity, chemical levels, temperatures, and tectonic activity. (There are over 100 individual entries on the page that display the data gathered by the system.) Obviously, there are many potential uses of that data. The fact that it has been gathered continuously for a decade means it can help track changes in how carbon dioxide and heat enter the oceans. This is probably what made it a target for the climate change denialists who helped set the Trump administration's policy.

Those policymakers are perfectly happy to annoy people with environmental concerns, but they apparently neglected to consider how upset everyone else would be about losing access to the other data. The ensuing public backlash led the Senate on Wednesday to unanimously agree with a measure that would block the government from taking down the OOI. Today's decision may indicate that the administration recognized it had gotten itself into a fight it knew it was losing. The National Science Foundation formally announced the decision, stating: "effective immediately, [it] will not proceed with further removal or descoping of equipment from the remaining arrays and will continue operations including planned maintenance." The agency added that it "appreciates the concerns raised by the range of stakeholders that have informed us they rely on data" from the OOI.

The NSF also said it would "issue a Dear Colleague Letter to collect input from stakeholders and convene an expert panel to assess observational needs, evaluate available data sources, consider responses ... and help the agency identify a sustainable path for NSF's ocean observing systems."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Adobe is expanding its Firefly AI assistant into Premiere, Illustrator, InDesign, and Frame.io, where it can automate all sorts of tasks such as organizing clips, renaming assets, adding interview markers, rearranging layers, and finding missing fonts. It's available starting today as part of a public beta. TechCrunch reports: Adobe is slowly transforming Firefly to increasingly resemble Canva, at least when it comes to AI features, loading up the app with AI tools that can generate images, videos and storyboards. The company is now adding a new feature called Elements that can save AI-generated characters, objects and locations for later use.

Firefly is also getting a Projects feature that can store existing assets in one place, and share context. This could be useful for teams creating a video series or brand campaigns. Both of these features are currently available in a private beta.

The company said users can now describe a brand and its style, or upload existing collateral, in Firefly to have it generate a brand kit, complete with logos, brand identity and color palettes, or even generate product videos from photos. Users can also create storyboards to create videos.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Labour-burgemeester Andy Burnham van Manchester heeft donderdag de lokale verkiezingen van het kiesdistrict Makerfield gewonnen. Met zijn Lagerhuiszetel kan hij een gooi gaan doen naar het partijleiderschap van Labour en daarmee het premierschap.

Mexico heeft zich als eerste land geplaatst voor de knock-outfase van het WK. Het gastland wist met 1-0 te winnen van Zuid-Korea.

Het nieuwste AI-model van Anthropic werd door de Amerikaanse overheid geblokkeerd voor alle buitenlanders.

DanÅke Carlsson posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Greg Adams Photography posted a photo:

Huntington Beach Pier @ sunset

DanÅke Carlsson has added a photo to the pool:

banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:

Matsuyama Castle (松山城, Matsuyamajō) is one of Japan's twelve "original castles", i.e. castles which have survived the post-feudal era since 1868 intact. It is also one of the most complex and interesting castles in the country. It is located on Mount Katsuyama, a steep hill in the city center that provides visitors with a bird's eye view of Matsuyama and the Seto Inland Sea. There are about 200 cherry trees on the castle grounds, making this a lovely cherry blossom spot typically around late March to early April each year.

Matsuyama Castle was constructed between 1602 and 1628. In 1635, the castle got assigned to a branch of the Matsudaira family, relatives of the nation ruling Tokugawa, and it remained in their hands until the end of the feudal era. The current three storied castle tower was constructed in 1820 after the original five storied one had been destroyed by lightning.

Matsuyama Castle provides an excellent example of a feudal castle. The main circle of defense (Honmaru) is located on the top of the hill, accessible through multiple, well defended gates. The main keep is one of only a few in the country that boast multiple wings. The complex also includes a secondary keep and multiple turrets, giving Matsuyama Castle a grand appearance and making it interesting to explore.

Source: www.japan-guide.com/e/e5501.html

Greater Manchester mayor says result represents Labour’s ‘final chance to change’, after soundly beating Reform UK and hardline Restore Britain

• UK politics – live updates

Andy Burnham has won the crucial Makerfield byelection by a huge majority, paving the way for a challenge to Keir Starmer’s premiership.

The Greater Manchester mayor beat the Reform UK candidate, Robert Kenyon, by 9,231 votes, and the new hardline Restore Britain party coming a distant third..

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• 2023 champion sits at six under through 16 holes

• Play suspended at 8.25pm after rain-soaked day

• Clubhouse leader Stevens among group at two under

For much of a Thursday that offered a harsh reminder of Shinnecock Hills’ capacity for chaos, the US Open leaderboard was as congested as County Road 39 at the start of a Hamptons weekend, a gridlocked mass of contenders separated by little more than one or two shots. Then Wyndham Clark found another gear, roaring clear of the traffic to open a shocking four-stroke lead before darkness brought the first round to a halt.

Clark, the 2023 champion, was six under par through 16 holes when the horn blew and play was suspended at 8.25pm, holding a commanding advantage over a chasing group at two under that included the clubhouse leader Sam Stevens. Six other players were also at two under, four of whom had holes remaining. Nine more – including Masters champion Rory McIlroy – sat at one-under.

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Standup comedy gives women a space to talk about certain topics that have become more sensitive, while performers remain wary of censorship limits

Packed into the upstairs theatre of a small performing arts space in east Beijing, more than 100 people, mostly women, are giddy with anticipation. “Who did you come to see?” asks the MC, fashionably dressed in a faded denim two-piece suit. The answer is bellowed in unison back to him: “Fang Zhuren!”

Fang Shaoli, AKA Director Fang (Fang Zhuren), has built a cult following in China in the past two years. Decidedly less fashionable than the evening’s host, Fang is dressed in a yellow hoodie and dark blue jeans. Her everywoman attire is part of the appeal. With a stout frame and short, sensible haircut, Fang, who was born in 1975, hails from rural part of east China’s Shandong province. Before discovering the art of standup comedy she worked in factories and on construction sites, but mainly lived as a housewife to a difficult husband. Her jokes riff on the deep sexism that permeates Chinese culture, particularly away from the big urban centres like Beijing and Shanghai.

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Tories’ Douglas Lumsden says city has spoken ‘loud and clear’ in support of the North Sea oil and gas industry

• UK politics – live updates

The Scottish National party (SNP) has lost the formerly safe seat of Aberdeen South in a shock loss to the Scottish Conservatives.

The Scottish Conservatives’ Douglas Lumsden beat the SNP’s Richard Thomson by 6,050 votes, with a 14.69% swing away from the SNP. The Tories vote share was 49.51%. Lumsden’s vote tally was 14,308, with Thomson on 8,258.

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WASHINGTON (ANP) - De vicepresident van de Verenigde Staten, JD Vance, zal donderdagavond uiteindelijk niet naar Zwitserland afreizen om de onderhandelingen over een definitief akkoord met Iran te starten. Dat heeft het Witte Huis in een verklaring bekendgemaakt.

"De plannen voor de komende technische besprekingen zijn nog niet definitief vastgesteld, en de Amerikaanse delegatie heeft zich voorbereid om bij de eerste gelegenheid te vertrekken. Maar de logistiek rond deze onderhandelingen is nooit eenvoudig of voorspelbaar geweest. Voorlopig zal de vicepresident vanavond niet vertrekken", aldus het persbericht.

JD Vance had eerder verklaard dat de termijn van 60 dagen voor het definitieve vredesakkoord tussen de VS en Iran vanaf donderdag zou ingaan en dat hij "dit weekend" naar Zwitserland zou kunnen reizen, maar dat hij dit niet kon garanderen.

Beide landen ondertekenden woensdag het zogenoemde memorandum van overeenstemming.

MAKERFIELD (ANP) - Bij tussentijdse verkiezingen in het Engelse kiesdistrict Makerfield is Labour-kandidaat Andy Burnham gekozen als nieuw parlementslid. Burnham (56) is de huidige burgemeester van Manchester en kan nu met zijn verworven zetel in het Britse parlement het leiderschap van Labour opeisen.

Hij heeft eerder al gezegd het te willen opnemen tegen de impopulaire Britse premier en partijgenoot Keir Starmer als hij zou winnen. De verkiezingen, die Burnham met 54 procent van de stemmen won, werden dan ook met grote belangstelling gevolgd.

Een Britse premier kan door de eigen partij aan de kant worden geschoven en worden opgevolgd zonder nieuwe verkiezingen. De volgende parlementsverkiezingen in het VK moeten uiterlijk half augustus 2029 plaatsvinden.

Burnham is al sinds zijn 15e lid van Labour en geldt als een van de kopstukken van de partij. Hij deed eerder al diverse pogingen om de leider van Labour en het land te worden.

De verkiezingen waren nodig omdat partijgenoot Josh Simons had aangekondigd af te treden, mede omdat hij verwikkeld was in een schandaal rondom journalisten die hij valselijk had beschuldigd propagandisten van Rusland te zijn.