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The curious case of the disappearing Lamborghinis

MIT Technology Review

A new wave of theft is rocking the luxury car industry--mixing high-tech with old-school chop-shop techniques to snag vehicles while they're in transport. When Sam Zahr first saw the gray Rolls-Royce Dawn convertible with orange interior and orange roof, he knew he'd found a perfect addition to his fleet. "It was very appealing to our clientele," he told me. As the director of operations at Dream Luxury Rental, he outfits customers in the Detroit area looking to ride in style to a wedding, a graduation, or any other event with high-end vehicles--Rolls-Royces, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Mercedes G-Wagons, and more. But before he could rent out the Rolls, Zahr needed to get the car to Detroit from Miami, where he bought it from a used-car dealer. His team posted the convertible on Central Dispatch, an online marketplace that's popular among car dealers, manufacturers, and owners who want to arrange vehicle shipments. It's not too complicated, at least in theory: A typical listing includes the type of vehicle, zip codes of the origin and destination, dates for pickup and delivery, and the fee. Anyone with a Central Dispatch account can see the job, and an individual carrier or transport broker who wants it can call the number on the listing. Zahr's team got a call from a transport company that wanted the job. They agreed on the price and scheduled pickup for January 17, 2025.



Florida euthanizes 5,195 frozen iguanas

Popular Science

First introduced during the 1960, the invasive reptiles were'cold-stunned' during a record-breaking cold snap. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. To state the obvious, it's been a particularly frigid winter across most of the eastern United States. Winter's icy grip has not even spared the Sunshine State, where a total of 5,195 frozen green iguanas --an invasive species--have been removed from the ecosystem and euthanized. Green iguanas () are considered an invasive species in Florida.


Termites are swarming Florida even faster than predicted

Popular Science

Most of the state may be fighting the invasive species by 2050. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Termites have plagued southern states like Florida for decades, but a new study indicates that the problem is even worse than researchers previously believed. After reviewing over 30 years of monitoring data, entomologists at the University of Florida (UF) now say both the Formosan and Asian subterranean termites ( and) are expanding their range of destruction. They've already traveled farther north than scientists initially predicted.


Polar vortex returns to send half of US into a deep freeze for weeks

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Trump threatens I'LL QUIT NATO over Greenland as he doubles down on blistering tariff threat and Europe puts boots on the ground Trump suffers Minneapolis meltdown as president flinches at ICE shooting and aides panic: 'He doesn't like it' 'Side-piece' slur hits Machado after kiss-up campaign fails to move Trump inside chilly White House meeting Taylor Swift and'defeated' Travis Kelce are facing'first real test' in their relationship... as insiders say'things are changing' I've uncovered a seedy new dating red flag. So many men are at it... I can't believe I didn't spot the warning signs sooner: JANA HOCKING Married congressman's alleged mistress was drunk when she set herself on fire... as autopsy reveals heartbreaking discovery Kylie Kelce makes raunchy reference to her and Jason's sex life after his post-NFL glow up Major 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes West Coast with shockwaves felt across major cities Students were raped after being forced to live in complex alongside 125 refugees to'aid integration': Terrified Dutch youngsters'were subjected to years of sex assaults and violence' Heiress reveals cruel outbursts her hedge funder husband made after dumping her for younger woman while sheltering from Covid at $7.5m Martha's Vineyard compound'Party mom' who encouraged high schoolers to have sex so she could watch confronted child about dumping her son and banned'ugly' children from her mansion, court hears Amy Schumer sent me these late-night messages when I last wrote about her. Sorry sweetie, truth hurts... here's what I think of you now! KENNEDY Dementia is NOT inevitable: scientists reveal how MILLIONS of cases can be prevented as they unveil a'roadmap' to beat the disease Gene Hackman's Santa Fe mansion listed for over $6m one year after he died in the home with his wife Kate leaves fans stunned with her down-to-earth nature as she's spotted driving herself to glitzy reception at Windsor Castle NFL team could be forced to move over wild conspiracy theory as players' fears mount Titanic star with a link to Clint Eastwood emerges on rare outing in LA can you guess who she is? Megyn Kelly sounds alarm over ICE enforcement and warns it could damage Trump's midterm chances What Trump's desire to buy Greenland may reveal about him... psychologist unpacks the president's personality A massive polar vortex has returned to the US and is expected to send half the country into a deep freeze through the rest of the month.


Don't pick up frozen iguanas

Popular Science

Environment Animals Wildlife Don't pick up frozen iguanas When the temperatures drop, so do Florida's iguanas. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. In Florida, giant invasive pythons, the state's signature alligators, and bears that sometimes roam around theme parks are typically among the most upfront wildlife in the news. But when the temperatures drop, one reptile stands ready to take the limelight and also drop-- iguanas . When air temperatures get cold enough, the reptiles will get stunned (or freeze) and fall from trees.


Ukraine denies drone attack on Putin's residence

BBC News

Ukraine denies drone attack on Putin's residence President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied allegations by Russia that Ukraine launched a drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin's residences. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Kyiv had launched an attack overnight using 91 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on Putin's state residence in Russia's northwestern Novgorod region. Russia said it would now review its position in peace negotiations. Zelensky dismissed the claim as typical Russian lies, intended to give the Kremlin an excuse to continue attacks on Ukraine. He said that Russia had previously targeted government buildings in Kyiv.


Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,381

Al Jazeera

What is in the 28-point US plan for Ukraine? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Can the US get all sides to end the war? Why is Europe opposing Trump's peace plan? Here's where things stand on Saturday, December 6: A Russian drone attack killed two men, aged 52 and 67, in the Ukrainian city of Izyum as they were unloading firewood from a truck, according to local officials. Russian forces also killed a 12-year-old boy in an attack on the Vasylkivska community in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, and wounded more than a dozen Ukrainians in attacks on the Kherson, Donetsk and Sumy regions, local officials said.


Gruesome death ordered for 172 bears as hunt ritual is approved for first time in more than a decade

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Sports broadcaster's wife suffers unimaginable tragedy just before he goes on air Bethany MaGee's family issue heartbreaking statement about her injuries after devout Christian, 26, was set ablaze'by 72-time arrestee' on Chicago train Couple left red-faced after buying $25K'dirt alley' at auction thinking it was bargain San Francisco home LIZ JONES: Sorry, but it's now time for Kate to stop making excuses Troubled 350lb son of Hollywood icon is forced to humiliating new low... as his movie star brother luxuriates in $7m Montecito mansion Ina Garten, 77, vulnerably addresses her decision not to have children: 'I can't imagine my life any other way' Doctors appalled by North West's new body modification warn parents to stop children from chasing the dangerous fad Alex appeared to have the dream Manhattan mom life. But she was hiding a dark secret... and it almost killed her Shocking extent America has turned on ICE is revealed as Joe Rogan breaks from conservatives still cheering Trump's army of masked men Sir Richard Branson's wife Joan dies: 'Heartbroken' Virgin tycoon pays tribute to his'best friend' after she passed away Trump gives Thanksgiving turkeys scathing nicknames and calls Pritzker a'fat slob' in fiery White House holiday speech How to tell if a man is using'therapy speak' to manipulate you: If he says any of these 15 toxic phrases, run for the hills... I'll tell you what he REALLY means: JANA HOCKING I know why Usha Vance ditched her wedding ring. Most women would do the same if they'd suffered her humiliation: KENNEDY As many as 172 black bears are at risk of death in Florida after a judge approved the first hunt in a decade. Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey rejected a request from Bear Warriors United, a Central Florida-based nonprofit, to halt this year's hunt, saying the group had failed to show a'substantial likelihood of success on the merits' in its lawsuit. The hunt is scheduled for December 6 through 28 on lands outside the wildlife management area system.


MAT-MPNN: A Mobility-Aware Transformer-MPNN Model for Dynamic Spatiotemporal Prediction of HIV Diagnoses in California, Florida, and New England

Wang, Zhaoxuan, Kang, Weichen, Han, Yutian, Zhao, Lingyuan, Li, Bo

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has posed a major global health challenge for decades, and forecasting HIV diagnoses continues to be a critical area of research. However, capturing the complex spatial and temporal dependencies of HIV transmission remains challenging. Conventional Message Passing Neural Network (MPNN) models rely on a fixed binary adjacency matrix that only encodes geographic adjacency, which is unable to represent interactions between non-contiguous counties. Our study proposes a deep learning architecture Mobility-Aware Transformer-Message Passing Neural Network (MAT-MPNN) framework to predict county-level HIV diagnosis rates across California, Florida, and the New England region. The model combines temporal features extracted by a Transformer encoder with spatial relationships captured through a Mobility Graph Generator (MGG). The MGG improves conventional adjacency matrices by combining geographic and demographic information. Compared with the best-performing hybrid baseline, the Transformer MPNN model, MAT-MPNN reduced the Mean Squared Prediction Error (MSPE) by 27.9% in Florida, 39.1% in California, and 12.5% in New England, and improved the Predictive Model Choice Criterion (PMCC) by 7.7%, 3.5%, and 3.9%, respectively. MAT-MPNN also achieved better results than the Spatially Varying Auto-Regressive (SVAR) model in Florida and New England, with comparable performance in California. These results demonstrate that applying mobility-aware dynamic spatial structures substantially enhances predictive accuracy and calibration in spatiotemporal epidemiological prediction.