My sports ignorance rears its ugly head

Today, I read the following article on my RSS feed:

WATCH: Vanderbilt Hit with $100K Fine After Fans Rush Field, Tear Down Goal Posts
by Warner Todd Huston 7 Oct 2024

The SEC has fined Vanderbilt University $100,000 after fans rushed the field and tore down the goal posts following the team’s win against Alabama on Saturday.

But me, in my complete ignorance of sports, especially at the college level, read this headline and thought "why would the US Securities & Exchange Commission care about a football riot?"

Just The News: Officials investigate death of Wells Fargo worker found in cubicle 4 days after last coming to work

Officials investigate death of Wells Fargo worker found in cubicle 4 days after last coming to work
By Nicholas Ballasy. Published: August 30, 2024 10:58am. Updated: August 30, 2024 11:04am

A preliminary investigation did not reveal signs of foul play, according to police.

Someone dying in their office cubicle is sad, but not particularly newsworthy - it happens. But the fact that nobody noticed for four days is sick.

MacRumors: Apple Vision Pro Can Now Be Controlled With Brain-Computer Interface

Apple Vision Pro Can Now Be Controlled With Brain-Computer Interface
Tuesday July 30, 2024 6:54 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Apple's Vision Pro headset can now be controlled using only thoughts, thanks to integration with neurotechnology startup Synchron's brain-computer interface (BCI).

The company today announced that Apple Vision Pro has been successfully used by a patient through direct brain control facilitated by Synchron's brain-computer interface technology. Mark, a 64-year-old man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), demonstrated the integration.

With this technology, Mark controlled the cursor on the Vision Pro to play Solitaire, watch Apple TV, and send text messages without using his hands, which he can no longer move due to his condition. The Vision Pro's reliance on hand gestures would otherwise pose a barrier for users like Mark who have lost upper limb functionality.

Incredible. This is one of the best uses of this tech I've read about to date.

Also reported by Apple Insider

Right to repair and Tesla's insane policies

I just ran across this incredible video (from two years ago) where an independent garage fixed a Tesla (broken battery coolent line) for $700, mostly labor, whereas Tesla wanted to charge $16,000 to replace the entire battery pack.

h/t iFixit

The Forged Apple Employee Badge

The Forged Apple Employee Badge
Cabel Sasser, May 16, 2024

Wow. Someone was selling Apple Employee #10’s employee badge?! What an incredible piece of Apple history! Sure, it’s not Steve Jobs’ badge (despite the auction title), but there are only so many of these in the world — especially from one of the first ten employees.
...
Oh snap. It’s really fake?

A great story about an eBay forger who (unfortunately) has been getting away with selling all kinds of fake memorabilia. Be sure to also read the comments, which point out all kinds of mistakes the forger made, which may help you spot some fakes on other auction listings.

h/t Daring Fireball

Etak: The first automotive navitation system

12 Map Happenings that Rocked our World: Part 9: A Curious Phenomenon Called ‘Etak’
James Killick, April 11, 2024

Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Or so said Steve Jobs when he announced iPhone in 2007.

But I’m talking about a different revolutionary product. A foundational product that forever changed how everyone on this planet gets to where they need to be.

Today, I’d like to tell you about the Etak Navigator, a truly revolutionary product and the world’s first practical vehicle navigation system.

The Etak system encapsulated most of what modern navigation systems use today, and it did it with 1980's technology.

h/t Daring Fireball

Federalist: Daylight Savings Is A Scam

Daylight Savings Is A Scam
By: Nathan Stone, March 11, 2024

Americans don’t get more daylight. Plants don’t enjoy an extra hour of sunshine. The only difference it makes is to harm our health.

A great summary about the origin of Daylight Saving time, what people claim it accomplishes, and references to the inconvenient truth that is doesn't accomplish anything, but does significantly impact our health an well-being.

Apple's magic sound-file renaming

This is based on a discussion thread I just started on TidBits Talk.

For those who are unaware, in macOS 11 (aka "Big Sur"), Apple changed all of the standard system sounds. If you compare the system sounds preferences of it (or newer) releases with prior releases, you'll see that the standard set changed:

Old (pre- Big Sur) macOS system sounds	New (Big Sur and later) macOS system sounds
Basso	Mezzo
Blow	Breeze
Bottle	Pebble
Frog	Jump
Funk	Funky
Glass	Crystal
Hero	Heroine
Morse	Pong
Ping	Sonar
Pop	Bubble
Purr	Pluck
Sosumi	Sonumi
Submarine	Sumberge
Tink	Boop

Disabling an iPod's headphone volume alerts

This is a cross-posting of a thread I started on TidBITS Talk

Yesterday, while taking a short road trip, my iPod Touch (running iOS 15.8.1) stared giving me "headphone safety" notifications, complaining that I’m subjecting myself to dangerous volume levels for an extended period of time.

Yes, the iPod was running at maximum volume for three hours. But not into headphones. The headphone jack was connected to a cable to the car’s AUX audio input, for playback over the car's speakers.

I’ve been doing this for years, but something must have changed recently because I never got these warnings before today. (And they even propagated through iCloud into my phone’s Health app - just to rub it in, apparently).

I eventually found the location to disable this, but contrary to expectation, it’s not located in the "Sounds → Headphone Safety" page of system settings (where the option to "Reduce Loud Sounds" is located), but is instead, in the Accesibility section, for some strange reason. Accessibility → Hearing → Audio/Visual → Headphone Notifications.

I've turned it off. I’ll see if it does anything on my next road trip, where I'll be playing music at 100% volume out the headphone jack into the car stereo for six hours.

h/t: iPhone Life: How to Turn Off Headphone Safety Notifications on iPhone (iOS 17)

Loony Tunes: "(Blooper) Bunny" (1991)

While looking for something completely unrelated, I ran across this great cartoon that I had never before seen. Enjoy:

Read more about this cartoon on Wikipedia.