Van de 104 wethouders in de 22 gemeenten in de regio Rijnmond waar de nieuwe bestuursploeg bekend is, zijn er 32 vrouw. Daarmee ligt het aandeel vrouwelijke wethouders net iets boven het landelijke gemiddelde. De verschillen tussen gemeenten zijn groot.

At the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre broke new ground in selling readers an angry rightwing perspective. Today, most of Fleet Street is run by his disciples

In 1986, 131 years after the Daily Telegraph was founded, its editor, Max Hastings, wrote a memo to senior colleagues about the newspaper’s nature and purpose. “The Daily Telegraph is … ‘nice’,” he said, “in the business of reassurance, of providing confirmation each morning for our readers that their world is looking pretty safe and stable.” He went on: “We are not a strident campaigning newspaper – our business each day is to seek to give our readers the fullest possible information about what is happening in the world, and to suggest what it might mean.”

In practice, under Hastings and many other Telegraph editors, this ethos produced a journalism of pervasive but usually understated conservatism: often focused on the English countryside, the value of hierarchy and tradition, the pleasures of seasonal pursuits such as foxhunting and gardening, the interests of farmers and retired military men – and cautionary tales about more reckless lives gone wrong, often presented through enjoyably detailed reports from the divorce courts. The Torygraph, as many non-readers called it, could be inward-looking and “numbingly dull”, says Geoffrey Wheatcroft, the historian of British conservatism, but it was “thoroughly respectable”. Many of its most renowned figures, such as Hastings’s predecessor as editor, Bill Deedes, were “mildness itself”.

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In het wild kunnen vuursalamanders zo’n twintig jaar oud worden. Maar dat lukt in Nederland alleen met hulp van vrijwilligers. Een nachtelijke zoektocht naar larven in het Bunderbos.

Er is een nieuwe route in drugsland: via de Atlantische Oceaan komen grote hoeveelheden cocaïne Europa binnen. De ingrediënten: volle zee en supersnelle speedbootjes.

Drugssmokkelaars hebben op de Atlantische oceaan een nieuwe logistieke keten gebouwd tussen Zuid-Amerika, West-Afrika en Europa. De Franse overheid zet de marine in tegen speedboten die met 130 kilometer per uur drugs aan land brengen en wil hulp. Nederland kent het probleem, maar wacht op een officieel verzoek voor inzet van de marine.

ajpscs posted a photo:

the SQUARE
COZY CORNER
TOKYO DAY WALK
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© ajpscs

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

The Montecito was built in 1935 with 95 units at a cost of $1 million. Set on a hill overlooking the city, the Montecito is the highest building in Hollywood. It has a private swimming pool, two subterranean garages and a parking lot.The building is a classic Art Deco design with Mayan influences and windows arranged in vertical blinds. In 1946, it was sold for $600,000. In 1954, it was sold again, this time by Isadore and Libby Teacher to Howard Fox and Harry Wyatt.

The Montecito was home to several future movie stars, especially New York based actors while working in Hollywood. It was Ronald Reagan’s first residence when he moved to Hollywood; Reagan lived at the Montecito from June 1937 to late 1938. Reagan was said to have been roommates at the Montecito with Mickey Rooney. Other celebrities who have lived at the Montecito include James Cagney, George C. Scott, Montgomery Clift, Geraldine Page, Don Johnson, Sal Mineo and Ben Vereen.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

AI is niet onvermijdelijk; ze wordt onvermijdelijk gemaakt – zonder echte discussie, zonder gezonde marktwerking en zonder instemming. ‘Sorry,’ zegt hoofdrolspeler Ava Daniels in de comedyserie Hacks, ‘maar dit is gewoon technologische verkrachting.’

Phil Kingsbury - Thanks for 5.2 million views! has added a photo to the pool:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Olympus C730UZ
f/4.0 - 5.9 mm - 1/1000 - ISO 64

Somalia National Pavilion ? SADDEXLEEY The 61st International Art Exhibition ? La Biennale di Venezia marked a historic milestone with the opening of the first-ever Somalia National Pavilion. For SADDEXLEEY, featuring works by Ayan Farah, Asmaa Jama, and Warsan Shire, we developed a visual identity that translates the exhibition's themes into a contemporary graphic language while honoring Somalia's cultural heritage. The identity is built around typography and a restrained graphic system inspired by Somali visual culture and the country's national colors. Designed to complement rather than compete with the artworks, the flexible identity was applied across exhibition graphics, environmental elements, printed materials, and digital communication, creating a cohesive visual experience throughout the pavilion.

The crippling high-consequence attack on vital infrastructure that cybersecurity experts have warned about for years is upon us, in the form of an incident that may force KFC to close some stores in Japan. Colonel Sanders himself is not the victim here. That role goes to Nichirei Group, a Japanese purveyor of frozen foods and super-chill logistics services that move them around. Nichirei Group on Monday posted a notice [PDF] in which it admitted “system failures caused by unauthorized access have occurred.” The failures meant the frozen food concern could not arrange shipments to or from its refrigerated warehouses or conduct its other operations. Shortly after Nichirei Group revealed its difficulties, KFC Japan warned customers that delivery of ingredients to its stores would likely be affected. The chicken chain therefore stopped taking orders through its app and website and said it may need to limit menu items and opening hours. “Some stores may be closed depending on the availability of ingredients,” the company said. On Wednesday, Nichirei Group confirmed the cause of the outage was a cyberattack and admitted attackers accessed a server that stores personal information. The Group declined to offer any detail on the incident “to prevent further damage.” The company hopes to resume operations on Friday. That Nichirei Group is unable to provide some services suggests a ransomware attack has made some data unavailable. The mention of “further damage” suggests that discussing whatever happened could divulge clues about security weaknesses that would allow further attacks, perhaps directed at the Group’s clients. KFC Japan hasn’t posted any information about store closures. Indeed, the company continues to promote summer menu items such as a Japanese-style citrus and chicken combo that the chain says is refreshing to eat even in the heat of summer. The Register’s Asia-Pacific bureau will not venture to Japan to assess the impact of this incident, or try the burgers: At times like this, with critical infrastructure under stress, that’s just the right thing (not) to do. ®

Major publishers Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, and author Scott Turow have sued Google, accusing it of using millions of copyrighted books to train Gemini without permission or payment, in "one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history." The Guardian reports: The publishers argue that Google repurposed books that had been supplied for limited services such as Google Books, Google Play Books and Google Scholar. Those services allowed Google to use the works in specific ways -- for example, to display searchable snippets or sell ebooks -- but not, the lawsuit claims, to copy them for training commercial AI products. "Desperate to maintain its online dominance, Google abandoned its early motto of 'Don't be evil' and engaged in one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history," the suit states (PDF).

According to the complaint, the tech company made copies of copyrighted books to train Gemini without permission or payment, despite internal discussions acknowledging the legal risks. The filing claims Google flagged internally that it could face "$10Bs-$100Bs in potential fines" for using texts provided by publishers for Google Play Books. The publishers say Google's actions are harming authors and the wider publishing industry, arguing that AI-generated content could negatively impact book sales.

It notes that, for example, Gemini could generate "a 100-page murder mystery set in a quiet seaside town filled with secrets, that substitutes for an original copyrighted murder mystery on which Gemini trained" in 20 minutes for 39 cents. "No publisher or author can compete with that." The lawsuit names a number of specific books that the publishers allege were among the copyrighted works used without permission, including NK Jemisin's The Fifth Season, and Lemony Snicket's Who Could That Be at This Hour?

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