Business/Markets/Stocks/Economics Random, Random

[ti-amie]

Value of X has fallen 71% since purchase by Musk and name change from Twitter
Mutual fund Fidelity, which owns stake in social media platform, marks down value of its shares in disclosure obtained by Axios

Adam Gabbatt
@adamgabbatt
Tue 2 Jan 2024 14.24 GMT

The social media platform X has lost 71% of its value since it was bought by Elon Musk, according to the mutual fund Fidelity.

Fidelity, which owns a stake in X Holdings, said in a disclosure obtained by Axios that it had marked down the value of its shares by 71.5% since Musk’s purchase.

Musk acquired Twitter for $44bn in October 2022 and renamed the platform X in July 2023. Fidelity’s estimate would place the value of X at about $12.5bn.

The number of monthly users of X dropped by 15% in the first year since Musk’s takeover amid concerns over a rise in hate speech on the platform.

Since Musk’s takeover, X has cut at least 50% of staff and reduced moderation. And in September, the European Union issued a warning to Musk after it found that X had the highest ratio of disinformation posts of all large social media platforms.

Fidelity’s revised valuation of X came from a disclosure which ran to the end of November 2023, Axios reported. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

That disclosure would cover the fallout from a number of major companies pulling advertising on X after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory, the New York Times reported. Musk responded to the boycott by telling companies to “go (expletive) yourself” during an interview at an event in New York.

Musk is the world’s richest man, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $251bn. When he acquired Twitter, Musk said he was buying the company “to try to help humanity”.

Since the takeover Musk has reinstated a number of people previously banned from the platform, including former president Donald Trump and the rightwing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Trump is facing more than 90 criminal charges stemming from subversion of the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden, retention of government secrets after his presidency and hush-money payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels. He is also attempting to fend off civil lawsuits over business affairs and a rape allegation deemed substantially true by a judge.

Meanwhile, Jones recently proposed to pay $55m over 10 years to the Sandy Hook families who sued him for spreading lies that the 2012 schoolhouse killings in Newtown, Connecticut, were part of a hoax meant to force the US to accept gun control.

Jones’s offer came after a Texas judge ruled that Jones, the host of Infowars, could not invoke bankruptcy protection to avoid paying the nearly $1.5bn he was ordered to pay to families of the victims of one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. Believers of Jones’s lies aimed abuse and threats at the families.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... -elon-musk

[ponchi101]

Yet, nothing has really replaced Twitter. So, until some other big name starts something that can attract that crowd, X remains the name of the game.
Or am I missing something?

[ti-amie]

I've noticed that most of what we call Tennis Twitter is still on Xitter. I miss the regulars from that site. I have, however, noticed that since Elmo has let the RWNJ's and blue checker$ run rampant more people are showing up on Mastodon.

If Xitter continues to be a source of Q fantasies masquerading as talking points I don't think it'll be viable for any valid reason much longer. Just recently the Government of Japan was cut off because they made too many posts while trying to inform its citizens about a very real tsunami threat after a series of massive earthquakes hit them. Not to mention they suppress real news outlets in favor of the blue check crazie$ so if you really want to find a legit news source you spend a few minutes scrolling past and/or deleting the nonsense to get to the real stuff making any claims about engagement misleading at best and bogus at worst.

I guess you guys have noticed I'm leaning on Reddit for tennis, something JazzNU recommended. It took me awhile to get the hang of that site but I'm doing better with it now. I found it harder than Mastodon to be honest.

Repeating and paraphrasing what someone posted on Mastodon today: if you want an algo to feed you what it thinks you want Xitter is the place for you. If you want to take the extra five minutes and look for the hashtag for the topic you're interested in on Mastodon you're taking control of your social media.

That said in an emergency my Pavlovian response is still Xitter. It's a hard habit to break.

[ponchi101]

i have noticed that you use Reddit more, and the plug in works fine.
The issue with mastodon is/was that there is no plug in to make it work. So, the embedding is not fluid. But sure, if we stop using X I will not be missing much.

[ti-amie]

i have noticed that you use Reddit more, and the plug in works fine.
The issue with mastodon is/was that there is no plug in to make it work. So, the embedding is not fluid. But sure, if we stop using X I will not be missing much.

I bet the problem with Mastodon has to do with the fact that there are multiple servers "federated" under the name Mastodon. Every one is different. Xitter is still the best for video's though so unless it Elmo manages to completely implode it most of the video will still come from there.

[ponchi101]

That is exactly the reply I got from the phpBB guys. Mastodon would require multiple forms of plug ins, so they are a very hard "site" to integrate.

[ti-amie]

Eff around...

Boeing wants FAA to exempt Max 7 from safety rules to get it in the air
Jan. 5, 2024 Updated Fri., Jan. 5, 2024 at 9:01 p.m.

By Dominic Gates Seattle Times
Seattle Times

SEATTLE – Little noticed, days before the holiday break, Boeing petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration for an exemption from key safety standards for the 737 Max 7 – the still-uncertified smallest member of its newest jet family.

Since August, earlier models of the Max flying passengers in the U.S. have had to limit use of the jet’s engine anti-ice system after Boeing discovered a defect with potentially catastrophic consequences. The flaw could cause the inlet at the front end of the pod surrounding the engine – known as a nacelle – to break and fall off.

In an August Airworthiness Directive, the FAA stated debris from such a breakup could penetrate the fuselage, putting passengers seated at windows behind the wings in danger, and could damage the wing or tail of the plane, “which could result in loss of control of the airplane.”

Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing 15,000 American Airlines pilots, said the flaw in the engine anti-ice system has “given us great concern.”

He said the pilot procedure the FAA approved as an interim solution – urging pilots to make sure to turn off the system when icing conditions dissipate to avoid overheating that within 5 minutes could seriously damage the structure of the nacelle – is inadequate given the serious potential danger.

“You get our attention when you say people might get killed,” Tajer said. “We’re not interested in seeing exemptions and accommodations that depend on human memory. … There’s just got to be a better way.”

In its petition to the FAA, Boeing argues the breakup of the engine nacelle is “extremely improbable.”

“The 737 Max has been in service since 2017 and has accumulated over 6.5 million flight hours. In that time, there have been no reported cases of parts departing aircraft due to overheating of the engine nacelle inlet structure,” the filing states.

On Thursday, Boeing said in an emailed statement it is “developing a long-term solution that will undergo thorough testing and FAA review before being introduced to the 737 Max fleet.” In the meantime, Boeing said “inspections are ongoing” to check for any damage to the nacelles on Maxes in service.However, without an exemption from safety regulations, the FAA cannot approve the final two Max models, the Max 7 and Max 10, to fly passengers.

On Christmas Eve, just before the deadline for public input on the proposed Max 7 exemption, the Foundation for Aviation Safety – a lobbying group set up by former Boeing manager and whistleblower Ed Pierson following the two deadly Max crashes – filed a submission calling on the FAA not to certify the airplane until Boeing fixes the safety defect.

“The Foundation is alarmed at the FAA safety culture, allowing consideration of an exemption proposal … for certification of a new airplane model with a known catastrophic failure (risk) resulting from a simple mistake by the flight crew,” the Foundation’s submission states.

Don’t forget to turn it off
Industry analysts and Boeing investors have long anticipated Max 7 certification being granted soon. The company’s share price rose significantly toward year-end based partly on that expectation.

If the exemption is granted, certification can go ahead, allowing the Max 7 to begin flying with Southwest Airlines.

Boeing would have until mid-2026 to design, test and certify a fix for the engine anti-ice system defect that would then be retrofitted to all Maxes. By then, there could be nearly 2,000 Maxes in service or more than 4,000 engines needing the retrofit.

Until then, pilots would have to adhere to the limitation currently applied on the Max 8 and Max 9 models. After emerging from icy conditions into drier air they have to make sure they turn off the engine anti-ice system, which heats the inner barrel of the engine pod so that ice doesn’t build up.

If they fail to do so, the system can quickly overheat the carbon composite material and damage the structural integrity of the engine pod. The problem is there’s no alert or indication to the crew that the system needs to be turned off. They just have to remember to do it. If they forget, or are distracted by other tasks, the overheating can begin to damage the structure after just five minutes.

Tajer said it’s “not uncommon” for pilots on other aircraft to inadvertently leave the anti-ice system on when it is no longer needed. On older 737s, for example, it would waste energy, but not do damage. The defect affects only the Max, with engine inlets made from carbon composite rather than the metal used on older models.

Independent aviation safety consultant and pilot John Cox said he’s run the anti-ice system on the previous 737 “for long periods of time.” And he’s unsure how practical it is to ask a Max flight crew to limit the time the system operates in dry air.

“I’ve been in and out of cloud tops,” Cox said. “Do you turn it on, turn it off, turn it on, turn it off?

“If you are doing that and get distracted, and end up with the anti-ice off and you go back into clouds where you pick up inlet icing, the next time you turn it on, you’re going to ingest that ice.”

After reviewing Boeing’s petition, Cox said he’d recommend the FAA turn it down.

“With the possibility of such a failure and an Airworthiness Directive with significant limitation already in place, my vote would be to deny the exemption request,” Cox said. “Yes, it would affect entry into service, but it could create an ‘unsafe condition’ by the FAA’s own words.”

Michael Stumo, father of Samya Rose Stumo, who died in the second Max crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet in 2019, said, “Boeing claims to have learned its lessons with a new focus upon safety. That is not true … Boeing is still avoiding safety rules rather than building safe aircraft.”

A single point of failure?
Boeing’s petition states the potential breakup of the engine pod was discovered through analysis and flight testing and could happen only in the case of “multiple, independent system failures during specific operational and environmental conditions.”

“Boeing’s quantitative risk assessment evaluated this scenario to be extremely improbable,” the filing concludes.

But Joe Jacobsen, a retired FAA safety engineer and adviser to the Foundation for Aviation Safety, says the petition offers no evidence this is not a single point of failure.

“A pilot forgetting to turn it off, that’s all it takes,” said Jacobsen.

Mike Dostert, another retired FAA safety engineer and adviser to the foundation, concurs.

“All it takes is for the system to be left on and you damage the structure,” said Dostert. “I don’t see the multiple failures.”

Without any kind of crew alert to tell the pilots they should shut off the system, he said “there’s a pretty good chance human error is going to occur.”

Notably, among the various regulations Boeing wants exempted from is one requiring the jetmaker to prove that any “single failure or malfunction or probable combination of failures (that) will jeopardize the safe operation of the airplane … is extremely remote.”

Dostert added that this defect could overheat and damage both engines on the plane simultaneously, making such an event potentially even worse than several serious accidents in recent years when broken engine fan blades caused the inlet cowl to break off a single engine.

In 2018, a passenger aboard a Southwest Airlines 737 died when a broken fan blade destroyed an engine cowl. Shrapnel penetrated the aircraft’s fuselage and broke a cabin window beside the passenger.

The pod around the engine is part of the airframe and is the responsibility of Boeing, not the engine maker.

Dostert said an earlier nonfatal engine blowout on a Southwest flight in 2016 had also led to the inlet cowl departing the aircraft but no fix was made before the fatality in 2018.

Almost six years later, the fix for that broken fan blade scenario in older 737s is still in the works. In December, the FAA published a proposal that gives Boeing until the middle of 2028 to develop a retrofit that will strengthen the inlet cowls and fan casings.

“There’s a pattern here,” Dostert said. “Of Boeing knowing about potentially catastrophic single failures, and not addressing them in an expeditious manner.”

Equivalent safety to Max 8, 9
In 2022, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun threatened to cancel the Max 10 if Congress didn’t amend a law granting permission to certify the jet without meeting the safety regulation for crew alerting systems included in the 2020 Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act.

Congress bowed to the pressure and amended the law, amounting to a safety exemption for the Max 7 and Max 10 models.

Boeing argues in its December petition that granting the exemption, with the same procedural limitation on how the pilots use the engine anti-ice system that applies to the Max 8 and Max 9, will leave the Max 7 no less safe than those two aircraft that are flying passengers every day. But Cox said “there’s a difference in an unsafe condition found on the existing fleet and an unsafe condition prior to certification.”

He said he’s uncomfortable with the idea of “certifying an airplane with an acknowledged potential unsafe condition.”

With the Max 8 and 9 flying, Cox said the FAA’s only alternative to imposing the operational restriction on those jets was to ground the fleet.

“Do I think it’s worth grounding the fleet? No, I don’t. It’s a bit of a tough call,” Cox said. Limiting use of the anti-ice system in dry air is “probably the best compromise that the FAA and Boeing could come up with and agree on.”

But for Boeing’s two still-to-be certified airplanes, the Max 7 and Max 10, he thinks a permanent fix is a better approach.

“They need to make it a very strong priority to minimize the time under which the engine is operating with this potential problem and to restore the anti-ice system to normal,” Cox said.

The FAA said in an emailed statement that it will investigate how the defect was missed during the Max’s original development and certification and “will issue a corrective action to ensure Boeing’s future certification programs … are improved.”

The safety agency said it will rule on Boeing’s petition, but “there is no specific timetable.”

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/ ... ety-rules/

[ti-amie]

Find out...

US orders Boeing 737 Max 9 planes grounded after Alaska Airlines blowout

Nearly 200 planes out of commission as FAA investigates Saturday flight from Portland, Oregon, where cabin panel blew out mid-air


Alaska Airlines plane makes emergency landing after window blows out mid-air – video

Guardian staff and agencies
Sat 6 Jan 2024 21.28 CET

US regulators have ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft following a cabin panel blowout late Friday that forced a brand-new airplane operated by Alaska Airlines to make an emergency landing.

“The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes before they can return to flight,” said Mike Whitaker, a Federal Aviation Administration administrator, on Saturday. “Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB’s [National Transportation Safety Board] investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.”

Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary, echoed the same message in a social media post: “Safety will always be the top priority for our department and for FAA.”

In their own statement, Boeing officials said: “We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected plane.”

The company added: “Safety is our top priority, and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.”

Alaska Airlines first grounded all of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes on Saturday morning after a window and a chunk of fuselage blew out on one of the aircraft in mid-air shortly after takeoff.

One of the Boeing 737 Max 9s belonging to Alaska Airlines had to make an emergency landing shortly after taking off from Portland, Oregon, on Friday.

A passenger sent the broadcaster KATU-TV a photo showing a gaping hole in the side of the airplane next to passenger seats. The airline said the plane, carrying 174 passengers and six crew members, landed safely.

Evan Smith, who was among those on board, told KATU that a boy sitting in a row with his motherhad his shirt sucked off him and out of the plane. “His mother was holding on to him,” he said. “You heard a big loud bang to the left rear. A whooshing sound and all the oxygen masks deployed instantly and everyone got those on.”

Another passenger, Kyle Rinker, told CNN: “It was really abrupt. Just got to altitude, and the window/wall just popped off and didn’t notice it until the oxygen masks came off.”

Yet another passenger, Emma Vu, told CNN that she sent a text message to her parents with their code word for emergencies to let them know about what was happening on the plane. “I’ve never had to use it before – but I knew that this was the moment.”

Vu said people on either side of her, along with a flight attendant, comforted her and assured her “it was going to be OK”.

“The fact that everyone was kind of freaking out and [the attendant] took that time to kind of make me feel like I was the only passenger – honestly that was really sweet,” Vu added.

In an emailed statement, Alaska Airlines said: “Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, experienced an incident this evening soon after departure.”

On Saturday morning the company said it had taken the “precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing Max-9 aircraft”.

The plane was diverted after rising to 16,000ft (4,875 metres) about six minutes after takeoff at 5.07 pm on Friday, according to flight-tracking data from the FlightAware website. It landed again at 5.26pm.

The news outlet KPTV-TV reported photos sent in by a passenger showing a large section of the plane’s fuselage missing.

A passenger named Diego Murillo told KPTV that Alaska Airlines rebooked him on an 11pm flight out of Portland’s airport. Murillo said his family was prepared to arrive at their final destination at about 2am on Saturday – but beyond that, the airline provided little information to him about what had happened.

The Boeing 737 Max 9 at the center of Friday’s events rolled off the assembly line and received its certification two months ago, according to online FAA records. Boeing said it was working to gather more information and was ready to support the investigation.

The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s venerable 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on US domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.

Two Max 8 planes crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to a near two-year worldwide grounding of all Max 8 and Max 9 planes. They returned to service only after Boeing made changes to an automated flight-control system implicated in the crashes.

Max deliveries have been interrupted at times to fix manufacturing flaws. In December, the company told airlines to inspect the planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder-control system.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... SApp_Other

[ponchi101]

Boeing is seriously opening itself to a major lawsuit, certainly in the billions, if they do not certify properly.
Why are they doing this?

[ti-amie]

If that child and his mother had been sucked out of the plane Boeing would be no more.

That said I think L'il Wayne has it right

[ti-amie]

(NTSB/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

United finds loose bolts on Boeing jets grounded after blowout incident
The findings, as part of a preliminary inspection ordered by FAA, raises questions about possible systematic problems with the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet

By Lori Aratani and Kelly Kasulis ChoUpdated 39 minutes ago

MORE COVERAGE
Before plane’s blowout, warning light illuminated during 3 previous flights
Airlines cancel hundreds of flights after Boeing Max 9 grounding order

United Airlines on Monday said preliminary inspections of grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 planes have turned up loose bolts and other issues with the part of the aircraft that failed on an Alaska Airlines flight over Portland last week, raising concerns of a systematic problem with jetliner.

In some cases, bolts needed additional tightening, the carrier said. The inspections of more than 100 Alaska and United planes manufactured by Boeing were ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration after a door plug blew out of the Alaska flight midflight Friday, causing injuries and chaos.

The finding could compound the woes at Boeing, which has struggled to rebuild its reputation after an earlier model of the Max was grounded after two crashes killed 346 people several years ago. Investigations revealed problems with the design of an automated system on that plane, which had not been fully disclosed to the FAA.

Boeing did not comment on United’s reported finding on the loose bolts Monday, which occurred as part of preliminary inspections that have been ongoing since Saturday. On Monday, the FAA said airlines can begin inspections in earnest using guidance from Boeing and the agency.

One hundred seventy one Boeing 737 Max 9 planes have been grounded amid the investigation into the rapid depressurization accident Friday, which triggered an emergency landing and resulted in extensive damage to an Alaska Airlines plane.

There were no serious injuries in the accident, which is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, but the dramatic midair incident caused the FAA to order immediate inspections of the jetliners. Guidance issued Monday by Boeing and approved by the FAA allows the inspections to begin. The FAA previously said the inspections could take four to eight hours per plane, but on Monday said that was no longer accurate, without offering a revised estimate.

“The FAA’s priority is always keeping Americans safe,” the agency said in a statement, adding that all Max 9 aircraft would remain grounded until operators have completed the enhanced inspections.

Two airlines in the United States — Alaska Airlines and United Airlines — have Boeing Max 9 aircraft in their fleets.

Authorities are also investigating the auto-pressurization fail light on the Alaska Airlines flight that experienced the blowout. The light is designed to signal failures in the control of cabin pressure. It had illuminated on three flights in the weeks before Friday’s incident, the NTSB said. Those reports — on Dec. 7, Jan. 3 and Jan. 4 — prompted tests and a reset by maintenance, she said.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, said Sunday that Alaska Airlines had restricted the plane involved in the blowout from flying to Hawaii in case of the need for a swift landing, and that a later request from the airline for a deeper look had gone unfulfilled before Friday’s incident.

“It’s certainly a concern, and it’s one that we want to dig into,” Homendy said. She added that it’s unclear whether the light is linked to the accident, saying it’s possible it could have malfunctioned independently of the plane’s auto-pressurization system.

Inspections will be required on both the left and right cabin-door exit plugs, door components and fasteners. Operators must also complete corrective-action requirements based on findings from the inspections before bringing any aircraft back into service, the FAA said.

“The safety of our airplanes and everyone who steps onboard is a core Boeing value,” Stan Deal, commercial airplanes president and chief executive, and Mike Delaney, chief aerospace safety officer and senior vice president of global aerospace safety, wrote in a message to employees Monday. “We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 MAX airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... ons-begin/

[ti-amie]

iPhone that got sucked out of Alaska Airlines plane and fell 16,000 feet is found on the ground – and still works
By Li Cohen

January 8, 2024 / 10:00 AM EST / CBS News



When a door plug on an Alaska Airlines plane suddenly ripped off minutes into a flight on Friday evening, everyone on board remained safe, but several objects were sucked out of the aircraft and fell roughly 16,000 feet – including what appears to be an intact and working iPhone.

Washington resident Sean Bates tweeted on Sunday that he found an iPhone on the side of the road that was "still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim" for the plane involved in Friday's incident, Alaska Airlines ASA1282. The phone also has a piece of a charger still stuck inside.

"Thing got *yanked* out the door," Bates tweeted, "...survived a 16,000 foot drop perfect in tact!"

Bates said he called the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency investigating the incident, and an agent told him it was the second phone to be found from the plane.

In a TikTok, Bates said he was out enjoying a walk when he stumbled across the iPhone. He said he was "a little skeptical at first" after coming across it, initially thinking that someone had thrown the device out of their car.

"It was still pretty clean, no scratches on it, sitting under a bush," he said. "And it didn't have a screen lock on it, so I opened it up and it was in airplane mode with travel confirmation and baggage claim for Alaska 1282."

Along with the door plug, several components of the plane were sucked out during Friday evening's incident, including headrests, a seat back and a tray table. The NTSB confirmed during a press briefing on Sunday that two cell phones belonging to people on the plane were located, including one found on the side of the road and another that was found in a yard. The plug that was covering the exit door was found in a teacher's backyard near Portland, Oregon, the city from which the plane departed and had to make an emergency landing.

Boeing 737 Max 9s – the type of plane in the incident – have been grounded by the FAA until the agency is "satisfied that they are safe," a spokesperson said. As of Monday morning, more than 300 Alaska Airlines and United Airlines flights have been canceled, as the two companies are the only U.S. passenger airlines that use the type of aircraft involved.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iphone-suc ... ill-works/

[ponchi101]

My mom and sister are in Macon, GA, visiting our nieces. Their flight back to Caracas was cancelled yesterday, as they were flying a Copa Airlines 737. I am not sure if it was a Max 9, but... yeah, better that way.

[Suliso]

Boeing would be out of business in the commercial plane sector if it weren't such a duopoly. Switching to Airbus very expensive thus they're stuck.

[ponchi101]

I would not go so far. The 737 series has been extremely successful and reliable for decades, and their other products, the 777 and 787 series are solid.
I never understood why they dropped the 757 (it was one hell of a plane) or why they came up with the 767 (that one was not so good).
But both Boeing and Airbus have competition in the 737 line and 320 lines. Embraer's line of 145, 175, 190 and 195 are excellent planes. I like them better than anything Airbus offers (the 320 series has got to be the most uncomfortable planes in the sky today).