Sen. Mark Kelly draws harsh words from Elon Musk after Ukraine visit https://www.byteseu.com/817721/ #Az #Branch #Democratic #DemocraticParty #Elon #ElonMusk #executive #ExecutiveBranch #Kelly #legislative #LegislativeBranch #mark #MarkKelly #Motors #musk #N4NPolitics #Negative #new #NewVisitorsAZ #Overall #OverallNegative #party #Politics #Putin #Tesla #TeslaMotors #Ukraine #visitors #Vladimir #VladimirPutin #volodymyr #VolodymyrZelenskyy #Zelenskyy
#workinprogress pics of a #painting made for a man from Austria; msg me if you're interested in having any of your favorite photos painted ------
Japanese automaker Nissan will throw its lot in with Honda.
The two Japanese OEMs plan to merge by 2026,
creating the world's third-largest car company in the process.
Already, earlier this year the two signed memorandums of understanding to create a strategic partnership
focused on software and electrification.
Now, they say, the changing business environment calls for deeper integration.
Currently, #Honda is an independent OEM,
albeit one with strong links to #General #Motors.
Meanwhile, #Nissan currently forms one part of an alliance, together with France's #Renault and the also-Japanese #Mitsubishi.
But the Renault-Nissan alliance has not been entirely smooth.
In 2019, then-head of the alliance Carlos Ghosn was arrested by Japanese police
on charges of financial misconduct.
After three months under house arrest,
Ghosn fled the country and Japan's criminal justice system, (which rarely returns a not guilty verdict).
Last year, Nissan agreed to invest $663 million into Renault's EV activities;
at the same time Renault gave up the majority of its shares in Nissan,
reducing the stake of each company owned by the other, down to 15 percent.
That was meant to lead to "a broader range of EV products and powertrains,"
said Uchida at the time.
But evidently it was decided that this arrangement was not sufficient to improve Nissan's electric vehicle portfolio.
For its part, Mitsubishi says it will monitor the situation and decide whether or not to join at a later date.
Meanwhile Renault said in a statement that
"as the main shareholder of Nissan,
Renault Group will consider all options based on the best interest of the Group and its stakeholders.
Renault Group continues to execute its strategy and to roll-out projects that create value for the Group,
including projects already launched within the Alliance."
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/12/honda-and-nissan-to-merge-honda-will-take-the-lead/
Galloping Goose 5 - Wolf Creek Area Framed Print by Debra Martz
A day trip on the historic rail system used in the 1930s on the Cumbres and Toltec in New Mexico and Colorado. (more info in Alt Text)
Of course, now we know who was behind #Stuxnet -- #Israel and the #CIA -- thanks!
Why the #StuxnetWorm is like nothing seen before
By Paul Marks
27 September 2010
"Stuxnet is the first worm of its type capable of attacking #CriticalInfrastructure like #PowerStations and #ElectricityGrids: those in the know have been expecting it for years. On 26 September, #Iran’s state news agency reported that computers at its #Bushehr #NuclearPowerPlant had been infected.
Why the fuss over Stuxnet?
"#ComputerViruses, worms and #trojans have until now mainly infected PCs or the servers that keep e-businesses running. They may delete key system files or documents, or perhaps prevent website access, but they do not threaten life and limb.
"The Stuxnet worm is different. It is the first piece of #malware so far able to break into the types of computer that control machinery at the heart of industry, allowing an attacker to assume control of critical systems like #pumps, #motors, #alarms and #valves in an industrial plant.
"In the worst case scenarios, safety systems could be switched off at a nuclear power plant; fresh water #contaminated with effluent at a #SewageTreatmentPlant, or the valves in an #OilPipeline opened, contaminating the land or sea.
“'Giving an attacker control of industrial systems like a #dam, a sewage plant or a power station is extremely unusual and makes this a serious threat with huge real world implications,' says Patrick Fitzgerald, senior threat intelligence officer with Symantec. 'It has changed everything.'
Why is a different type of worm needed to attack an industrial plant?
"Industrial machinery is not controlled directly by the kind of computers we all use. Instead, the equipment used in an industrial process is controlled by a separate, dedicated system called a programmable logic controller (#PLC) which runs supervisory control and data acquisition software (#SCADA).
"Running the SCADA software, the PLC controls the process at hand within strict safety limits, switching motors on and off, say, and emptying vessels, and feeding back data which may safely modify the process without the need for human intervention – the whole point of industrial automation.
So how does a worm get into the system?
"It is not easy because they do not run regular PC, Mac or Linux software. Instead, the firms who sell PLCs each have their own programming language – and that has made it tricky for hackers to break it.
"However there is a way in via the Windows PC that oversees the PLC’s operations. Stuxnet exploited four vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows to give a remote hacker the ability to inject malicious code into a market-leading PLC made by German electronics conglomerate Siemens.
"That’s possible because PLCs are not well-defended devices. They operate for many years in situ and electronic access to them is granted via well-known passwords that are rarely changed. Even when Stuxnet was identified, Siemens opposed password changes on the grounds that it could cause chaos as older systems tried to communicate using old passwords.
Where did the initial Stuxnet infection come from?
"It appears to have first arrived in Iran on a simple #USBMemoryStick, says Fitzgerald. His team in Dublin, Ireland has been analysing Stuxnet since it was first identified by a security team in Belarus in June.
"The first of the four Windows vulnerabilities allowed executable code on a USB stick to spread to a PC. The USB may have been given to an Iranian plant operative – or simply left somewhere for an inquisitive person to insert into their terminal.
"Says Fitzgerald: 'It then spreads from machine to machine on the network, exploiting a second vulnerability to do so, and reports back to the attacker on the internet when it finds a PC that’s running Siemens SCADA software. The attacker can then download a diagram of the industrial system set-up the SCADA controls.'
"The next two Windows vulnerabilities lets the worm escalate its privilege levels to allow the attacker to inject Siemens PLC format computer code – written in a language called STL – into the PLC. It’s that code which is capable of performing the skulduggery: perhaps turning off alarms, or resetting safe temperature levels.
How do we know where Stuxnet is active?
"Symantec monitored communications with the two internet domains that the worm swaps data with. By geotagging the IP addresses of Stuxnet-infected computers in communication with the attacker, Fitzgerald’s team found that 58.8 per cent of infections were in Iran, 18.2 per cent in #Indonesia, 8.3 per cent in #India, 2.6 per cent in #Azerbaijan and 1.6 per cent in the US.
Who is behind the worm?
"No one knows. It is however very professionally written, requiring what Fitzgerald calls 'a broad spectrum of skills' to exploit four new vulnerabilities and develop their own SCADA/PLC set-up to test it on.
"This has some commentators suggesting that a #NationState with plenty of technical resources may have been behind Stuxnet. But computer crime is a billion dollar business so such an effort is not beyond extortionists.
"Stuxnet comprises a 600-kilobyte file and it has not yet been fully analysed."
Read more:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19504-why-the-stuxnet-worm-is-like-nothing-seen-before/
The New York Times published a stunning account of more than 100 #migrant #children, largely from Central America, who, according to the Times’ reporting,
were working #overnight #shifts and #dangerous #jobs for companies large and small throughout the U.S.
According to the report:
In Los Angeles, #children 
stitch “Made in America” tags into #JCrew shirts. They bake dinner rolls sold at #Walmart and #Target, process milk used in #Ben & #Jerry’s ice cream and help debone chicken sold at #Whole #Foods.
As recently as the fall, middle schoolers made #Fruit #of #the #Loom socks in Alabama.
In Michigan, children make auto parts used by #Ford and #General #Motors.
️In other words, nearly all of us are likely buying and using goods fabricated by children’s hands.
️We’re all implicated in this story.
These migrant children, who have traveled thousands of miles, are under #intense #pressure to send money home to their families or to the people who sponsor them in the United States.
Many of them are #extorting the children for smuggling fees, rent and living expenses.
These children are ostensibly under the purview of the Department of Health and Human Services, which assigns them caseworkers to make sure they’re cared for while they are in this country.
The New York Times reports that
“in interviews with more than 60 caseworkers, most independently estimated that 
about two-thirds of all unaccompanied migrant children ended up working #full #time.”
Blue car #auto #cars #motors #blue #leicacamera
Pubblicato su salvomic Photography @salvomic-photography-salvomic
1965 Superformance Shelby Cobra #auto #autos #automotive #Moto #motor #Motors #car #cars #retro #artist #artists #design #designer #inspiration #60s #1960s #art #artnet #automobile #automobiles
2024 Lamborghini Huracan Spyder 
#auto #autos #automotive #car #cars #engineering #moto #motor #motors #lamborghini #lamborghinis #car #cars #design #designer #designers #designing
1960 Chevrolet Bel Air 
#auto #autos #automotive #art #arts #retro #design #designer #designers #inspiration #car #cars #moto #motor #motors
Modern cars have been called “smartphones with wheels,” because they are connected to the internet and packed with sensors and cameras.
#LexisNexis #Risk #Solutions, a data broker, has traditionally kept tabs for insurers on drivers’ moving violations, prior insurance coverage and accidents.
When Romeo Chicco requested his LexisNexis file, it contained details about 258 trips he had taken in his Cadillac over the past six months.
His file included the distance he had driven, when the trips started and ended, and an accounting of any #speeding and #hard #braking or #accelerating.
The data had been provided by #General #Motors — the manufacturer of his Cadillac.
In a complaint against General Motors and LexisNexis Risk Solutions filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Mr. Chicco accused the companies of violation of privacy and consumer protection laws.
The lawsuit follows a report by The New York Times that, unknown to consumers, automakers have been sharing information on their driving behavior with the insurance industry, resulting in #increased #insurance #rates for some drivers.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions, and another data broker called #Verisk, claim to have real-world driving behavior from 
millions of cars.
This is the most adorable little robot I’ve seen! #ABB air gap inspection robot can crawl in the tiny air gap between the rotor (the part that spins) and the stator (part that surrounds the rotor, doesn’t spin) in large synchronous #motors and #generators and look for signs of problems.
Much easier than threading the rotor out of a machine. I’ve seen it done. It takes a team of skilled riggers, overhead crane, and a lot of finesse and skill. #electricalengineering
Elecia( @logicalelegance ) and Chris( @stoneymonster ) touched on hobbies in this week's show( https://embedded.fm/episodes/469 ).
Here's an excerpt from that part of the show:
