Month: August 2022

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Technology

Meet the Porsche 911 GT3 R, the Marque’s Menacing New Race Car – Robb Report

Porsche 911 GT3 R 6

If racing improves the breed, Porsche’s roadgoing specimens have a deep well of excellence to draw from: The brand has claimed some 30,000 victories since the 1950s, with two-thirds of those wins coming from 911 models. The latest quiver in Porsche’s arsenal is the just-unveiled 911 GT3 R race car, which made its official debut at last weekend’s 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, where it finished in seventh place, and will make its first stateside appearance at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The big-winged racer is the second competition spinoff from the 992 series 911, and relates directly to the roadgoing 911 GT3. The new car was tuned with a keener eye towards enabling drivers to squeeze out as much consistent performance from the platform, rather than focusing on outright speed. “Our task was less about making the new 911 GT3 R even faster—the classification within performance windows set by the BoP quickly cancels out this advantage,” explains Porsche Motorsport Project Manager Sebastian Golz, referring to the Balance of Power rules which enable race organizers to set engine power limits in the interest of leveling the field of competition. “For us, it was primarily about our customers being able to drive the racing car faster for longer,” he says.

Porsche 911 GT3 R 2 in profile

The Porsche 911 GT3R racer in profile.

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That said, the new package is rather robust: engine displacement has been enlarged to 4.2 liters, mirroring the displacement of the 911 RSR. The flat-six produces 565 hp, and is said to deliver a more usable rev band, which should help less seasoned drivers eke more out of the powerband. The naturally aspirated engine has been tilted forward 5.5 degrees, making more room for the underbody diffuser which helps produce downforce to keep the vehicle stuck to the pavement when cornering. Suspension improvements also borrow from the RSR, while wheelbase has been lengthened to enable better balance, less tire wear, and more consistent performance. Like the GT3 road car, a new swan-neck mounted rear wing keeps the crucial airflow below the wing smooth.

Porsche 911 GT3 R 4 rear.

The 911 GT3 R has a sleek single taillight.

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Inside, the GT3 R’s seat has been moved closer to the center, accommodating an improved roll cage while meeting new side impact mandates. The spaceship-like cockpit incorporates a 10.3-inch screen from the GT3 Cup series. Porsche even improved the six-point harness with a quicker-releasing mechanism that they anticipate will shave around 1 second of driver swap time.

Serious racers have plenty of choice hardware to drool over with the new Porsche 911 GT3 R, which should be a formidable weapon for competition when it lands into customer and race team hands. Expect to spring $567,210 for the new car, though Le Mans hopefuls will know that number is just the tip of the racing-budget iceberg.

Check out more photos of the 911 GT3 R below:

Porsche 911 GT3R

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Porsche 911 GT3R

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Porsche 911 GT3R Interior

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Porsche 911 GT3R Interior

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Porsche 911 GT3 R Hood

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Porsche 911 GT3R

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Categories
Sports

Inside Ash Barty’s secret wedding to long-term love Garry Kissick

Inside Ash Barty's secret wedding to long-term love Garry Kissick

Ash Barty is notoriously secretive about her private life but pictures from her intimate Queensland wedding have pulled back the curtain.

The tennis great married her long-term love Garry Kissick in a private ceremony earlier this month, breaking the news on social media on Saturday night.

Captioned ‘Husband and wife’, the pair revealed little about the day they said ‘I do’.

Barty stunned in a Suzanne Harward-designed dress, whose gowns can cost upwards of $10,000.

The pair also tagged the Balter Brewing Company, suggesting the craft brewery provided refreshments for the evening.

Barty’s friends and family kept the news of the nuptials under wraps until the couple posted on social media.

Guests included Australian tennis stars Pat Rafter, Alicia Molik and Casey Dellacqua, according to the Courier Mail.

Kissick popped the question in November last year.

Barty revealed the happy news in an Instagram post, sharing a photo of the couple embracing with an engagement ring visible on her finger.

Barty has, for the most part, kept her relationship with Kissick relatively quiet.

The couple met at the Brookwater Golf Club in 2016. The sporting duo immediately clicked and went public with their relationship in 2017 when they attended the John Newcombe Awards together.

Kissick is an aspiring professional golfer, and works as the irrigation technician for the greens at the Brookwater Golf & Country Club in Brisbane.

The 29-year-old is a passionate Liverpool supporter and part of the PGA Trainee programme.

Read related topics:Ash Barty Brisbane

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Categories
Australia

Colmont School in Kilmore set to shut for senior students within days as money runs out

Colmont School in Kilmore set to shut for senior students within days as money runs out

The remaining students at Colmont School in Kilmore will be forced to leave the school within days after voluntary administrators failed to secure an emergency bailout from the government and could not secure rent relief from the school’s landlords.

Administrators for Colmont, an independent school that was heavily reliant on fees from international students, had been appealing to the school’s landlords, Taiwanese-born businessman Chien-Long Tai and his wife, Yuyu Chen, for rent relief.

Colmont School went into voluntary administration last week, leaving hundreds of families scrambling to find a new school.

Colmont School went into voluntary administration last week, leaving hundreds of families scrambling to find a new school.Credit:Jason South

The school collapsed last week due to a lack of funds, leaving hundreds of students in years 3 to 10 with just two days to find a new school. Students in years 11 and 12 were told the school would remain open to them for a longer period so they could continue their international baccalaureate studies without the disruption of having to find a new school at short notice.

Paul Langdon, an administrator at Vince & Associates, said the school “is running out of funds and in the absence of any significant financial support, cannot continue to operate for much longer.”

“The administrators have explored funding options with the federal and state governments on several occasions. Unfortunately, both governments will not be providing additional funding to the school,” he said.

“In addition, the administrators had sought a rent relief release from the landlord, which has also not been forthcoming.”

Dozens of students protested in front of the school gates on Monday, supported by family members, chanting “save our school” and “we want justice”. Members of Victoria Police attended the protest, warning the group to stay off school property.

More than 30 independent and Catholic schools have offered places to students at the school, although most lacked the capacity to take more than a handful.

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US

‘Lowest hanging fruit of a functioning society’

'Lowest hanging fruit of a functioning society'

WASHINGTON — Comedian and activist Jon Stewart returned to Washington on Monday, holding a rally in front of the US Capitol to prod recalcitrant Senate Republicans into finally passing a bill that would extend treatment to soldiers exposed to toxic chemicals.

“This is the lowest hanging fruit of a functioning society. Like, if we can’t do this, the rest of us have no shot,” Stewart said, depicting the stalled bill as a symptom of deepening political dysfunction. “This is the canary in the coal mine.”

Behind him stood veterans and their families, including Susan Zeier, the mother-in-law of Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson, who died of lung cancer at the age of 39 two years ago. The Department of Veterans Affairs denied him the kind of benefits it extends to soldiers, and their families, when they are injured on active duty. The bill is named after Robinson, who left behind a 9-year-old daughter.

Jon Stewart holds a microphone in front of the US Capitol among protesters holding signs, some of which read: Pass the PACT Act and Senators, honor your oath, veterans honored theirs, and Fallen heroes, the war that followed us home.

Comedian and activist Jon Stewart speaks during a rally to call on the Senate to pass the PACT Act, on Monday. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Senators lie, veterans die,” said a sign held by one of the attendees behind Stewart. The sign brandished by another simply listed the names of the 25 US senators, all of them Republicans, who stymied passage last week.

Stewart hoped that his presence would break the impasse before legislators left on their customary August vacation. By turns angry and exasperated, I have highlighted the seemingly uncontroversial quality of the legislation. “This isn’t like the Democrats snuck in ‘abortion for all’ into a gay pride bill,” the former “Daily Show” host joked to Yahoo News after the rally was concluded.

The imperiled legislation, also known as the PACT Act, would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand health care services for service members exposed to dangerous chemicals from so-called burn pits where garbage was incinerated, with the help of jet fuel, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At least nine respiratory cancers are believed to be potentially caused by breathing in the particulate matter emitted by the burn pits.

“Passage of the PACT Act is the highest priority in the entire veterans’ community,” legislative official Jeffrey Steele of the American Legion told Yahoo News.

Veterans and supporters of the Honoring Our PACT Act stand near a podium holding signs that read: I was killed in IRAQ. My body hasn't caught up yet and Fallen heroes: The war that followed us home.

Veterans and supporters of the Honoring Our PACT Act are seen during a press conference after Republican senators stalled the act, meant to help military veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, in front of the US Capitol on July 28. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via GettyImages)

The Senate had initially passed the bill in June with broad bipartisan support, but the removal of a single sentence about taxation required a new vote, setting up last week’s surprise defeat. In a surprise move that stunned veterans and their supporters, 25 Republicans in the GOP who had previously supported the bill decided to keep the measure from advancing.

“This is bulls***,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y., a supporter of the PACT Act, said at a rally last Thursday following the development. Stewart’s fiery speech at the same rally quickly became an Internet sensation. He is a longtime supporter of veterans’ issues and also fought for passage of the Zadroga Act (also sponsored by Gillibrand), which created a compensation fund for first responders sickened from working at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“It was the original burn pit,” Stewart said of the ruined World Trade Center, whose collapse released a similar multitude of toxic chemicals. The difference, Stewart said, was that Ground Zero was the product of a terrorist attack, while the burn pits were the result of careless practice.

“The contracts that ran the burn pits did it to them,” he said. “Not because technology didn’t exist, not to do it. But because it was cheaper. ‘And they’re just soldiers. Who gives as***?’”

Republicans have maintained that the bill is too expensive. Some believe the move last week was little more than a show of frustration after a surprise announcement of a $700 billion reconciliation package that would address President Biden’s priorities on climate change and other health care expenses.

Sen. Pat Toomey.

Sen. Pat Toomey. R-Pa., leaves the Senate chamber following the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act at the US Capitol on June 23. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., a leader of the recent Republican opposition to the PACT Act, said that he would vote for the bill as long as the Senate also approved an amendment he introduced to fix what he has described as a “budget gimmick” that would, in his view, allow Democrats to spend billions on issues unrelated to veterans’ care.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough has disputed Toomey’s characterization, pointing out that his proposed changes would put a ceiling on how much can be spent on care per year — and end all spending on burn pit care after 10 years, forcing Congress to either do away with the program or renew it through a new vote.

A vote on Toomey’s amendment is expected this week. The veterans who gathered on Capitol Hill vowed to hold rallies until the PACT Act was passed. “We think that Congress should not go anywhere for August recess until this bill gets done,” one of the speakers who followed Stewart said. “We’re going to stay. They need to stay.”

Categories
Technology

Behold the new 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R race car that is ready to rule the world of endurance racing with a bigger engine and improved aerodynamics

Behold the new 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R race car that is ready to rule the world of endurance racing with a bigger engine and improved aerodynamics

While we eagerly await for Porsche to officially reveal the all-new 992-generation 911 GT3 RS which is scheduled for August 17, the German manufacturer has lifted the veil off the 911 GT3 R race car. Although both the 992-generation 911s have very similar names, the GT3 is a through and through race car that will compete in North America’s IMSA endurance series and will be eligible for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024 for the first time. Yet, amongst all Porsche 911 race cars, it is the most closely aligned with the 911 GT3 RS road car. According to Porsche, development for the 992-generation-based customer race car began in 2019, with the automaker focusing on improving its drivability, streamlining its handling, and reducing its running costs.


Visually, the new 911 GT3 R race car’s updated design features flared wheel arches, a vented hood, chunky side skirts, a massive rear wing, and a huge diffuser at the back. Porsche says the wheelbase has been extended by 1.9 inches for better stability, while the aluminum-steel composite frame is almost entirely covered in carbon-fiber body panels. The race car is also fitted with a new KW suspension that makes steering more precise and reduces wear on the rear tires.


Additionally, the double-wishbone at the front and multi-link at the rear help the car achieve an elevated underbody to aid airflow to the rear diffuser without significantly increasing drag.


Powering the new 911 GT3 R race car is a new 4.2-liter flat-6 with a broader usable rev band than the predecessor’s 4.0-liter engine. The engine produces 565 horsepower and is leaned forward by 5.5 degrees, allowing for more space for the rear diffuser. The sequential six-speed gearbox has been taken from the GT3 Cup car and has been modified to support more power and higher speeds.


On the inside, the driver’s seat has been moved more toward the center of the vehicle, while the six-point harness has been tweaked and added with new clasps to allow for quicker driver changes during pit stops. There’s also the new 10.3-inch screen that comes from the GT3 Cup car. The 992-generation 911 GT3 R is priced at $567,210 and it’s only available for purchase through Porsche Motorsport North America for customers in the US and Canada.

Categories
Sports

Prince William and Charlotte prove to be good luck for Britain’s Lionesses

Prince William and Charlotte prove to be good luck for Britain's Lionesses

The Queen has led a jubilant nation in congratulating England’s Lionesses after they ended half a century of hurt by winning the nation’s first major football trophy since 1966.

Within minutes of the Women’s Euros win the monarch said captain Leah Williamson and her players had “rightly won praise” for their win but that their success “goes far beyond the trophy” they won for beating Germany 2-1.

She praised them for setting “an example that will be an inspiration for girls and women today, and for future generations”.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 31: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, attends the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 final match between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium on July 31, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Camera IconPrince William at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 final match between England and Germany. Credit: Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Up in the royal box at the game, the Duke of Cambridge leapt to his feet at the win and was there to congratulate the players.

And, it seems he may have helped bring the team luck, hours earlier posting a video message with daughter Princess Charlotte, seven, wishing the team “good luck”.

The Queen presented England’s only previous major football trophy – the men’s World Cup – to captain Bobby Moore at the old Wembley in 1966.

On Monday morning (Perth time), the 87,192-strong crowd at the new Wembley smashed the record for a men’s or women’s Euros final.

As many as 15 million were watching around the UK on television – another record for women’s football, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his children.

He said: “Football has come home! A stunning victory. Huge congratulations to [manager Sarina Wiegman]Leah and the whole team.”

David Baddiel, whose “It’s Coming Home!” lyric from 1996 football anthem Three Lions, echoed around Wembley, also praised the team.

The comedian tweeted: “Home. In fact it’s come home. A sentence I thought I’d never write. I’ve gone. Thank you Lionesses.”

The Spice Girls paid tribute to the “true girl power” of the Lionesses and men’s England captain Harry Kane hailed the “absolutely unreal scenes”.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 31: Jill Scott of England shakes hands with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, after the final whistle of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 final match between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium on July 31, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Harriet Lander/Getty Images)
Camera IconJill Scott of England shakes hands with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, after the final whistle. Credit: Harriet Lander/Getty Images

FA head of women’s football, Baroness Sue Campbell, said she was confident the win would have a legacy for women’s and girls’ football.

“I hope it’s spreading wonderful feelings of hope and happiness to the whole nation,” she added.

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Categories
Australia

Constitution should recognize Indigenous people as first Australians, says Noel Pearson

Play Video. Duration: 10 minutes 27 seconds

The Albanese government’s proposal to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body in the constitution should include words that formally recognize Indigenous people as Australia’s first inhabitants, advocate Noel Pearson says.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlined the core three sentences of a draft constitutional change in a speech to the Garma Festival of Aboriginal culture on the weekend.

Those three sentences would establish a Voice, with a role of advising the parliament and the executive, with its exact powers to be defined by the parliament in future legislation.

But right before outlining the proposed words, the prime minister said the change would be “in recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the First Peoples of Australia”.

Mr Pearson said it was important that those introductory words themselves be written into the constitution, alongside the enshrinement of the Voice.

“I think that they’re important words to retain as a prelude to those … substantive sentences,” he said.

7.30 host Sarah Ferguson asked if that recognition needed to be “spelled out” in a clause of the constitution, or whether it could be sufficiently “implicit” in the creation of the Voice.

But Mr Pearson said again the words of recognition were an important inclusion.

“It would adorn the substantive words,” he said.

Voice proposal ‘constitutionally conservative’ and practical

Anthony Albanese speaks from a podium on a stage at the Garma Festival
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the Garma Festival on Saturday.(ABC News: Michael Franchi)

Mr Pearson said the Voice proposal should appeal to “constitutional conservatives” because it respected the primacy of the constitution and the parliament.

“This isn’t a proposition that has its origins in a leftist proposal. And in my view, this is the formula for success, because we need conservative constitutionals and conservatives and Liberals generally, to join this journey to complete the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

Mr Pearson said he was “extremely moved” by Mr Albanese’s speech at Garma.

“I didn’t know that he could connect with me in that way.” Mr Pearson said.

yin and yang

The Opposition’s shadow attorney-general, Julian Leeser, has left the door open to the Coalition supporting the proposal while calling on the government to release more detail about the body’s role.

Indigenous Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called the Voice an exercise in “virtue signaling” over practical action.

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Categories
US

Major heat wave to swallow US as records fall in Pacific Northwest

Major heat wave to swallow US as records fall in Pacific Northwest

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Large parts of the Lower 48 are set to bake this week after a punishing, prolonged heat wave that set records in the Pacific Northwest edges east and south. Few regions will be spared as the heat expands into different areas each day, scorching the Northern Rockies on Monday, the central states Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Northeast by Thursday.

There will be no escape from the heat in Texas, which has already endured a historically hot summer. Temperatures there are projected to remain above normal — with highs mostly in the triple digits — for the whole week.

The heat wave has its roots in the Pacific Northwest, where it set records for longevity in Seattle and Portland.

Combined with a historically severe drought, the heat has fueled dangerous conditions for the spread of wildfires in Northern California, where the newly ignited McKinney Fire devours the landscape. The blaze, located in the Klamath National Forest, has torched 51,468 acres and is entirely uncontained.

2 die in McKinney Fire, now California’s largest wildfire this year

As the heat wave builds eastward, it will bring triple-digit heat to 43 million Americans. Heat advisories are already being issued in the Plains states, and it’s likely that excessive-heat warnings will be rolled out in some cities in the days ahead.

Records crumble in Northwest and Northern California amid escalating fire danger

Relief is finally arriving in the Pacific Northwest after a week of blistering heat, although one more day of triple-digit highs is forecast in eastern parts of Washington and Oregon.

Seattle set a record for its longest stretch with highs at or above 90 degrees. The previous record was a tie between two five-day spans in 2015 and 1981. It hit 94 degrees on Tuesday, 91 on Wednesday, 94 on Thursday and Friday, and 95 on Saturday and Sunday.

Portland also experienced a record-long stretch of exceptional heat, with a full week of consecutive days at or above 95 degrees that ended Sunday. The previous record was a tie between a six-day span in 1941 and another in 1981. The city’s average July high is 81.8 degrees, and yet three days between July 25 and the end of the month reached the century mark.

In Medford, Ore., it got as hot as 114 degrees Friday, just one degree from its all-time high. Tri-Cities Airport near Kennewick, Wash., managed a high of 110 degrees on Thursday, 112 on Friday and 109 Saturday.

The hot weather across the West has fueled a spattering of wildfires in Oregon and Washington, but the McKinney Fire in Northern California is the region’s most severe blaze. It has burned an area roughly twice the size of Disney World as high temperatures have helped desiccate the landscape, and the ground is replete with dry fuels available to burn.

Just how dry is that region of California? The ERC, or Energy Release Component, is 97 percent. That’s a figure related to how much fuel per unit area is available to burn. Values ​​over 80 percent reflect a propensity for dangerous wildfires; at 97 percent, explosive wildfire growth is possible.

High temperatures, increased by the effects of human-induced climate change, contribute to larger and more extreme wildfires. Eighteen of California’s 20 biggest wildfires have occurred in the past two decades.

Extreme heat oozing east in the short term

As the Pacific Northwest heat wave fades, the responsible zone of high pressure—or heat dome—will sink southeastward and become absorbed by another heat dome that stretches from the Four Corners to Florida. The combined heat domes will sometimes flex northeast in the days ahead.

Heat advisories have already been hoisted over the Plains, Ozarks and Corn Belt, encompassing St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, Sioux Falls and the Twin Cities.

The core of the heat will settle over the central states Tuesday and Wednesday, and could extend into the Northeast on Thursday.

Here are the day-by-day hot spots:

  • Numerous record highs between 90 and 105 degrees are forecast in the eastern Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies from eastern Oregon to central Montana, including Billings, Helena, Great Falls and Missoula.
  • Highs in the triple digits are forecast for much of the zone from Texas (away from the coast) to western Nebraska. While predicted highs are only in the mid-90s in Missouri, the heat indexes are forecast to reach 100 to 110, including in St. Louis.
  • Highs of at least 100 degrees are anticipated from Texas (away from the coast) to South Dakota, with heat indexes up to 105 to 110.
  • Highs in the 90s are projected to cover much of the South and Midwest, with a massive zone seeing heat indexes of 100 to 105, including Dallas, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Omaha, Des Moines, Kansas City, St. Louis and Little Rock. Heat indexes flirting with 100 could extend as far north as Minneapolis.
  • The heat is concentrated from Texas through Illinois, with widespread forecast highs from the 90s to 105, and heat indexes from 100 to 110. The heat index could reach 100 as far north as Chicago and Detroit.
  • The heat spreads into the Northeast. Boston and Hartford, Conn., are both expected to hit 96 degrees on Thursday, and Albany, NY, could spike to 98. That would tie a record set in 1955. Highs in the mid-90s are projected from DC to New York, with heat indexes 5 to 10 degrees higher.
  • Most of the Southeast will be in the low to mid-90s, but oppressive humidity will push heat indexes into the upper 90s or even near 100.
  • Across the Plains, upper 90s or lower 100s are likely. Dallas, Austin and San Antonio should see highs of 103 or 104 degrees.

Plains to keep baking in the longer range

A glance at the extended range, moreover, suggests that this heat dome could languish for a week or more, possibly into mid-August, as it consolidates over the Plains.

Here’s a look at how hot it could get:

  • Upper 90s to lower 100s spread from Texas all the way north to the Canadian Border, peaking around 102 degrees in Rapid City, SD That would tie a record of set in 1964.
  • Some cooler air sinks into the northern Plains, but highs well into the 90s and low 100s stretch from Texas to Iowa.

Categories
Technology

Linus Torvalds uses an Arm-powered M2 MacBook Air to release latest Linux kernel

Linus Torvalds uses an Arm-powered M2 MacBook Air to release latest Linux kernel

Slowly but surely, the Asahi Linux team is getting Linux up and running on Apple Silicon Macs.
Enlarge / Slowly but surely, the Asahi Linux team is getting Linux up and running on Apple Silicon Macs.

Apple/Asahi Linux

We don’t normally cover individual releases of the Linux kernel, partly because most updates are pretty routine. Any given Linux kernel update resolves some bugs, improves support for existing hardware, and makes some forward-looking changes in anticipation of new hardware, and kernel version 5.19 is no exception. Phoronix and OMG! Ubuntu! both have good overviews of the changes.

But there’s one interesting note about this release that Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds mentions in his release notes: The kernel update is being released using an Arm-powered laptop, specifically the M2-powered version of Apple’s MacBook Air.

“It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a long [sic] time, and it’s finally reality, thanks to the Asahi team,” Torvalds writes. “We’ve had arm64 hardware around running Linux for a long time, but none of it has really been usable as a development platform until now.”

Torvalds is running Linux on his M2 MacBook with the help of Asahi Linux, a distribution that has been working to reverse-engineer Apple’s hardware. The Asahi team’s goal is to send all of this work upstream into the main Linux kernel so that all distros can benefit, and Asahi has been relatively quick to add support for new Apple chips like the M2 or the M1 Ultra as they’ve been released .

In November 2020, Torvalds wrote that the then-new M1 version of the Air “would be almost perfect” as an Arm Linux laptop but said, “I don’t have the time to tinker with it, or the inclination to fight companies that don’t want to help.”

At a certain level, this news is just mildly interesting trivia—it doesn’t matter to most Linux users what computer Torvalds is currently using, and Asahi Linux is still in a rough, early state where lots of things are half-functional or non -functional. But as Asahi contributor Hector Martin noteshaving “real people… using Linux on a real, modern ARM64 platform” with a modern version of the Arm instruction set and a “near-upstream kernel” has knock-on effects that benefit the rest of the ecosystem.

More people using the Arm versions of Linux means more people fixing Arm-related bugs that will benefit all distros, and more people spotting and fixing Arm-specific problems in their own software (“dogfooding,” as Torvalds puts it in his notes). Eventually, the experience of using Linux on Arm hardware should improve for everyone, although these benefits could take years to shake out. But together with hardware efforts like Qualcomm’s upcoming high-performance Arm chips and Microsoft’s commitment to Arm hardware and software, they could make Arm-powered PCs more appealing and competitive alternatives to traditional Intel- and AMD-powered x86 PCs.

Also worth noting is that Torvalds believes that the 5.20 release of the Linux kernel will end up becoming version 6.0, not because of any specific feature updates but because he’s “starting to worry about getting confused by big numbers again.” Kernel versions 3.x and 4.x were also rolled over to the next major version number at or around their 20th release.

Categories
Australia

Operation COVID Shield ends as vaccination booster rates stall

Operation COVID Shield ends as vaccination booster rates stall

The Albanese government has quietly wound up the Operation COVID Shield vaccination program, despite millions of Australians being overdue for their boosters and one-fifth of aged care residents waiting for their fourth doses.

In a letter to state emergency operations leaders on Friday, Operation COVID Shield co-ordinator Lieutenant General John Frewen said the government “has advised that Operation COVID Shield will cease on August 1” with functions returning to the Health Department.

The government has wounded up the COVID-19 taskforce led by commander Lieutenant-General John Frewen.

The government has wounded up the COVID-19 taskforce led by commander Lieutenant-General John Frewen.Credit:alex ellinghausen

“I appreciate your involvement and support in the delivery of Operation COVID Shield and thank you for your assistance during my time as Coordinator General of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program,” wrote Frewen, who has returned to his post as Defense Chief of Joint Capabilities.

Set up by the former Coalition government after the nation’s vaccination program got off to a slow start, Operation COVID Shield was tasked with ensuring public confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout by overseeing the logistics of vaccine supply and the community messaging. General Frewen’s role circumvented the normal bureaucratic paths and allowed him to deal directly with groups and companies involved in the rollout, meet with state and territory leaders and chief health officers, and report directly to the prime minister.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called a virtual national cabinet meeting to be held on Thursday after Health Minister Mark Butler raised concerns that millions of Australians had “effectively tapped out of the vaccination program”.

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Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston accused the prime minister of removing another important COVID-19 measure “with no explanation” after not extending concession cardholders’ access to free rapid antigen tests and hesitating to extend isolation relief payments.

She called on the government to explain “what advice formed the basis of their decision to remove this most effective operation, particularly at a time when we are clearly still focused on vaccination as the primary defense against the current wave of the pandemic.”

A Health Department spokesman said the vaccination program now sat under “the direct oversight” of Secretary Brendan Murphy.