Links für 2024 KW 18
Zusammengefasst von LlongOrca.
“We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that.”:
The 2024 miniseries Shogun, based on James Clavell's 1975 novel of the same name, has been a breath of fresh air in the world of TV shows. This historical fiction, set in feudal Japan during a time of political turmoil and unification, has found complexity and drama within its simplicity. The series avoids hackneyed narrative tropes common in modern television, focusing on execution over innovation, excellence over novelty, and dramatic elegance over sprawling intrigue. It breaks from previous tropes by accurately portraying the feudal Japanese backdrop without judgment or romanticizing it. Shogun also successfully evades identity politics, race-swapping, and political correctness in favor of honest, relatable stories of human beings trapped in extraordinary situations beyond their control. The series shows a clear love for storytelling, character development, and historical accuracy.
WHY RUST CANNOT REPLACE C++, BUT QUITE THE CONTRARY:
The article discusses how C++ has evolved over recent standards (C++11 and later) to improve safety and ease of use, narrowing the gap with Rust, a language known for its robustness in these aspects. Key features such as smart pointers, generic templates, RAII for concurrency, lambda expressions, and auto keyword contribute to modern C++'s increased safety and reduced cognitive load. These advancements make Rust's strict safety model less compelling, though some functional elements of Rust, like its type system, could remain useful in specific contexts. Overall, with these modern C++ features, it seems that Rust may continue to be a niche language rather than widely adopted.
How To Make More Money Renting A GPU Than Nvidia Makes Selling It:
The companies that received the most allocations of Nvidia's „Hopper“ H100 GPUs in 2023 were hyperscalers and cloud builders interested in renting out their GPU capacity for AI model building, as well as innovating in large language models. As the demand for GPUs continues to grow, it is expected that the revenue generated from these rentals will multiply significantly. Nvidia's ability to capitalize on this trend could extend beyond its near monopoly with respect to accelerated computing for LLMs. Companies like CoreWeave and Lambda are making noise about GPU allocations, raising venture capital and potentially going public in the coming years.
This article discusses various topics related to cryptography, including non-malleable cryptography, obfuscating programs, computer systems established by mutually suspicious groups, digital signatures, interactive proof systems, minimal key lengths for symmetric ciphers, CryptDB's encrypted query processing, secure computations, Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, fully homomorphic encryption schemes, data banks and privacy homomorphisms, fast quantum mechanical algorithms for database search, polynomial-time algorithms on a quantum computer, elliptic curve cryptography, public key cryptosystems, new directions in cryptography, cramming components onto integrated circuits, and a mathematical theory of cryptography.
Globalization was supposed to align the world's values. Instead, they're diverging.:
At the end of the Cold War, many predicted that globalization would cause societies' values to converge around liberal ideas. However, researchers at the University of Chicago found that societal values are growing further apart, particularly between rich and poor countries. The study, published in Nature Communications, analyzed data from the World Values Survey, which interviews people across 76 countries every five years since 1981. It was found that wealthier nations had become more tolerant of certain topics such as homosexuality and divorce, while poorer countries grew less comfortable with these issues. The researchers also discovered that GDP per capita was the greatest predictor of aligning social values, along with frequent trade, geographic proximity, and religious similarity.
DNS traffic can leak outside the VPN tunnel on Android | Mullvad VPN:
The article reports potential DNS leaks on Android devices due to bugs in Android's system and certain apps using getaddrinfo C function to resolve domain names. These leaks can occur when a VPN is active without any configured DNS server or during a short period of time while the VPN app reconfigures the tunnel. The issue affects multiple versions of Android, including the latest one (Android 14). The article suggests that these problems should be addressed in the OS to protect all Android users regardless of which apps they use and have reported the issues to Google. App developers can work around these leaks by setting a bogus DNS server or potentially minimizing tunnel re-configurations, but complete prevention might not be possible.
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Schadet eine erhöhte Temperatur dem Baby oder der Mutter?:
A raised temperature is generally beneficial but alarm bells sound a little faster for pregnant women. The key information on fever during pregnancy includes: Does fever harm the fetus? When does a fever begin? Why and how does a fever occur? What is fever in early pregnancy? Can pregnant women take fever-reducing medication? What home remedies help with mild fevers? How can fever during pregnancy be avoided? A high temperature, red face, glassy eyes and shaking knees indicate that the body needs a break because it is currently busy fighting an infection. Fever during pregnancy also applies to the baby. Temperatures up to 38.5 degrees Celsius usually don't harm the baby temporarily but may lead to serious complications if accompanied by other symptoms of colds. These can include lung infections, which increase the risk of premature birth or miscarriage. Also, there is a higher likelihood of heart defects and other congenital abnormalities in babies born to mothers who were infected with influenza during pregnancy. If fever occurs without any symptoms of a cold infection or if the temperature rises above 38.5 degrees Celsius, it is advisable to contact your midwife, doctor, or healthcare professional. They can help to lower the fever gently and address any potentially serious underlying cause. A fever higher than 41 degrees Celsius can be dangerous for both mother and baby and requires immediate medical attention. The normal body temperature ranges from 36 to 37 degrees Celsius, but can vary due to factors such as time of day and method of measurement. If you are concerned about your temperature, it is best to consult with a healthcare professional. Fever occurs when pathogens, such as cold viruses, bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella, or parasites enter the body. The immune system responds by increasing the body's temperature in order to fight off infection more effectively. A slight fever during early pregnancy is normal and unharmful. Mild fever can also be a sign of potential pregnancy. However, prolonged or high fever in early pregnancy poses risks for both mother and baby. While some over-the-counter medications, such as paracetamol, are generally safe to take during pregnancy, always consult with your healthcare professional before doing so. Some mild home remedies for fevers include: wet wrist wraps, lukewarm baths, light exercise, and drinking plenty of fluids. To avoid fever during pregnancy, a strong immune system is crucial to prevent infections. Tips for maintaining a robust immune system include consuming a balanced diet rich in vitamins, engaging in regular physical activity, taking cold showers, and getting the flu vaccine if recommended by your healthcare professional.
The life and times of an Abstract Syntax Tree:
The article discusses various aspects of designing an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) for compilers and compiler-like tools. It highlights the importance of memory layout and ownership, as well as optimization techniques. The author suggests using a deque rather than a vector to store nodes for better performance and explores storage options based on different programming languages like C++, Rust, and Java. The article emphasizes the need for further discussions about compiler internals and the clever ideas used when dealing with large codebases efficiently.
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The Stirling-PDF PublicNotifications is a locally hosted web application that enables users to work with PDF files. It comes with a GPL-3.0 license and has 22,400 stars and 1,600 forks. Users can access various operations on PDFs through this platform.
Collapsing Sheets of Spacetime Could Explain Dark Matter and Why the Universe ‘Hums’:
This article discusses theoretical research by cosmologist Ricardo Ferreira at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, which could help solve some of the deepest mysteries in physics, such as the origins of gravity. The study suggests that hypothetical humongous sheets of spacetime called domain walls would have created a random, cosmos-suffusing background of ripples in spacetime if they had formed after the big bang. The findings show that these domain walls could have generated gravitational waves all the way up to and through their ultimate collapse. These gravitational waves would mainly be in the nanohertz frequency range, which is exactly the range in which an international consortium of astronomers says it has detected a potential gravitational-wave background signal. The research also suggests that some walls could have survived and appeared as overdense regions of energy, eventually collapsing to form black holes, potentially accounting for dark matter.
This study reviewed 26 systematic reviews and meta-analyses from cohort studies on the predictive associations between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and health outcomes among adults. The findings indicate that high CRF is strongly associated with a lower risk of various mortality and incident chronic conditions, including heart failure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation. The study highlights the importance of including CRF measurement in routine clinical practice to identify patients at higher risk of premature mortality and initiate targeted exercise prescription.
This article informs that the user's request has been blocked due to a network policy, possibly due to running a script or application without proper registration. The user is advised to either log in or create an account if they are using regular credentials, and register or sign in with developer credentials if using for scripts/applications. They should ensure their User-Agent string is unique and descriptive. If the issue persists, they can file a ticket including their IP address (185.232.69.199) and Reddit account information for further investigation or discussing alternative methods to access the desired data.
Disinformation is on the rise. How does it work?:
In January 2024, prior to Taiwan's elections, numerous fake video posts and an audio clip were disseminated on social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and X, accusing outgoing president Tsai Ing-wen of false claims. These materials were likely created using artificial intelligence (AI) by a Chinese state-backed propaganda group called Spamouflage, Dragonbridge, or Storm-1376. Microsoft's Threat Intelligence team reported that this was the first instance of AI-generated content being used to influence a foreign election by a nation-state.
In a first, an orangutan was seen treating his wound with a medicinal plant:
The discovery of an orangutan treating its wound with leaves suggests that great apes have the ability to identify and use pain-relieving plants. Researchers believe this self-medication behavior could trace back to a shared ancestor with humans, as evidence continues to mount about animal species using natural remedies for healing purposes. Orangutans in particular display intensive knowledge of foods and plants. The finding reinforces the idea that ancient humans derived their ability to identify medicinal plants from close observations of animals.
Desertification is destroying fertile land. Here's how we're fighting it.:
This article discusses the alarming rate of land becoming desert-like due to climate change and human activity, such as mining and poor farming practices. As a result, about 127 square miles of land are lost per day, with one-third of Earth's total land surface at risk of desertification. To combat this issue, various techniques have been employed, including the Chinese „Great Green Wall“ project aimed at planting trees and Dutch startup Justdiggit's bund method for controlling water runoff. Other methods include adding clay to soil to increase water retention and using a non-toxic paste made from cellulose to improve desert soil quality. However, the best way to combat desertification is to prevent it by using land more sustainably and addressing climate change.
They thought they were joining an accelerator — instead they lost their startups | TechCrunch:
Lacey Hunter started TechAid, an AI smart-matching tool for humanitarian aid, in 2022 and was attending the Newchip accelerator program when it filed for bankruptcy in May 2023. Warrants of her company became part of the proceedings, ultimately forcing her to shut down TechAid. Newchip had filed for bankruptcy amid employee and customer discontent, and the court ordered the company to auction off warrants it held in more than 1,000 startups that went through its accelerator program. Founders are outraged, including some who have lost their companies as a result. TechAid fought the sale of the warrants but ultimately shut down due to no path for raising funds and not being able to get a grant.
AI that mentions your product in online convos naturally | ReplyGuy:
The article promotes ReplyGuy, which offers a free trial and supports platforms like Twitter and Reddit. It recommends only mentioning the brand name in posts, as full URLs can be reported as spam. Users can cancel their subscription anytime. Replies are sent from high-quality accounts or an optional connection to a brand page. Results may take 1-2 weeks, with the post potentially gaining visibility for a long time. Live chat support is available for further questions.
Online Cryptography Course by Dan Boneh:
The article provides an overview of a cryptography course taught by Dan Boneh from Stanford University, available on Coursera. The course covers various topics in cryptography such as stream ciphers, block ciphers, message integrity, authenticated encryption, key exchange, public-key encryption, and digital signatures. Lectures, textbook resources, slides, and videos are included to help students better understand the material.
Just got doxxed to within 15 miles by a vision model, from only a single photo:
This article discusses how an AI model can detect the location of an image through geolocation and OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence). The model has raised concerns among users as it could potentially be used by bad actors for stalking, harassment, or other malicious purposes. However, some argue that having a more accessible and scalable tool for geolocation can aid investigative journalism and have a positive impact on society.
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Whistleblower who accused Boeing supplier of ignoring defects dies:
A whistleblower who accused Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems of ignoring defects in the production of the 737 MAX has died suddenly after a sudden illness, according to his family and lawyer. Joshua Dean had filed a complaint against Spirit with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), alleging serious quality failings at its production facility, and testified in a shareholder lawsuit against the company. He claimed he was fired in retaliation for raising safety concerns.
Apple's 'incredibly private' Safari not so private in Europe:
Security researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk have discovered that Apple's implementation of third-party app stores on iPhones in Europe leaves users of its Safari browser exposed to potential web activity tracking. The issue arises from a marketplace-kit: URI scheme, which allows approved third-party app stores to potentially track users around the web. While Apple advertises Safari as „incredibly private,“ these findings suggest otherwise.
Windows 10 reaches 70% market share as Windows 11 keeps declining:
Windows 11's market share experienced a notable decline in April 2024, falling below the 26% mark after reaching its all-time high in February 2024. The OS lost 0.97 points, dropping from 26.68% to 25.65%. Statcounter attributes this decrease to users choosing Windows 10 as it crossed the 70% mark for the first time since September 2023, gaining 0.96 points. However, some argue that Windows 11 still offers little benefit for upgrading and has a hard time retaining its customers due to various factors like ads and lack of unique features. Statcounter also reports that Windows 7 is still being used by around 3% of all Windows PCs despite being fully discontinued in January 2023.
The $21 billion influencer industry has an ad fraud problem:
The $21 billion influencer marketing industry has an ad fraud problem, with reports estimating the issue costs businesses about 15% of their ad spending, totaling over $1.3 billion in 2019. Unregulated influencer brand deals and advertisements can be fraudulent, discriminatory, and unethical, leaving audiences with no recourse to push back. The lack of boundaries within the industry opens opportunities for exploitation by marketers, brands, influencers, and platform companies. Despite the problems faced by the industry, some still view it as more desirable due to perceived authenticity when someone you follow pitches a product versus an anonymous ad.
At Microsoft, years of security debt come crashing down:
Microsoft, owning nearly one-quarter of the global cloud infrastructure services market, is facing a major reputational crisis after two nation-state breaches. In January, a Russia-backed threat group called Midnight Blizzard gained access to emails, credentials and other sensitive information from top Microsoft executives, federal agencies, and corporate customers. Then in early April, the federal Cyber Safety Review Board revealed that Microsoft failed to prevent a large 2023 hack of its Microsoft Exchange Online environment by a China-linked espionage actor, resulting in the theft of 60,000 State Department emails and access to other high-profile officials. Critics argue that these events are part of a long pattern of market dominance and ignoring warnings about product security and practices not meeting basic standards. Microsoft has more than one million security customers and generates over $20 billion in revenue per year from its security business.
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The article discusses eSpeak NG, an open source speech synthesizer supporting over a hundred languages and accents. Its licenses include GPL-3.0, Apache-2.0, BSD-2-Clause, and Unknown (UCD). With 2,900 stars and 763 forks, the article mentions that it has branches and tags along with activity status updates.
Pluralistic: Boeing's deliberately defective fleet of flying sky-wreckage (01 May 2024):
The article discusses the issues with Boeing's 787 „Dreamliner“, which has a cage full of defective parts that have been pulled from production and secretly installed on aircraft. It highlights the company's culture of financialization, whistleblower intimidation, and how their single largest exporter became increasingly infected with MDD's culture following a merger in 1997. The article raises concerns over safety violations and Boeing employees who were forced to perform self-inspections. It also mentions the whistleblower law called AIR21 that creates a byzantine procedure for reporting issues, protecting airplane manufacturers from legal repercussions and failing to take action against them.
Please Don’t Share Our Links on Mastodon: Here’s Why!:
The article discusses an issue with Mastodon, a decentralized social media platform, where sharing links can lead to server downtimes due to the „fediverse effect“ and increased load on servers. This problem arises because when users share links on Mastodon, the request to generate link previews is initiated not only by one instance but also by many other instances connected to it. The author suggests that this could potentially affect various independent sites and their server resources unnecessarily. Although the article acknowledges that Mastodon is a privacy-friendly open-source social media platform, it emphasizes the importance of addressing such issues to maintain its status as a better alternative to big tech platforms.
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Kobo's New Libra Colour Upgrades the Ebook Experience From Black and White:
The article discusses the new color e-reader, Kobo Libra Colour, which is priced at $220 and includes a 7-inch E Ink display. It highlights the benefits of having a color screen for reading books with illustrations or graphic novels, writing directly on the page, and using colorful notebook features. However, it also mentions some drawbacks such as ghosting in notebooks, expensive pricing when including the stylus, and a less extensive library compared to Amazon Kindle. The article concludes by stating that while Kobo e-readers may lack the Kindle's large library, they are a great alternative option for those looking to move away from all things Amazon.
AWS S3 storage bucket with unlucky name nearly cost developer $1,300:
Maciej Pocwierz, an engineer, accidentally left his Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 storage bucket accessible from the open web and found himself with nearly 100 million unauthorized attempts to create new files on his bucket within one day, racking up a bill of over $1,300. The cause was an unintended default backup configuration from a popular open-source tool Pocwierz used for his client project, which led to the collection of more than 10GB of data in less than 30 seconds. AWS later canceled the bill but emphasized that such refunds are rare.
Desire for loud car predicted by being a man: higher psychopathy and sadism:
This article discusses the relationship between people's preferences for car modifications and their personalities, particularly focusing on the tendency for some individuals to modify their cars to be louder. The study involved 529 undergraduate business students with a mean age of 18.14 years, who were asked about their views on modifying cars and how „cool“ loud cars are. The research found that people who scored higher on psychopathy and sadism may be more likely to modify their car mufflers to make them louder, suggesting that information campaigns may not be effective in changing these individuals' behavior.
This article discusses the development and potential applications of Scribe, a prototype music renderer that outputs SVG from JSON. The goal is to create a responsive music renderer that can be used on websites for improved user experience. The article explores various aspects such as using CSS Grid and Flexbox for layout, handling rhythm in the context of beats per bar, and mapping data-pitch attributes to grid rows. While it acknowledges some limitations, Scribe has been successful in generating responsive notation that can be easily scaled and updated.
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The 7.css framework is a CSS-based solution that allows developers to create user interfaces (UIs) resembling those from older Windows versions, such as Windows 7. It is built on top of XP.css and 98.css, which extend the GUI backbone. To use this framework, designers can leverage semantic HTML with <button>, <input> elements, and various other components. The CSS stylesheets come without JavaScript or dependencies, making them compatible across popular frontend frameworks.
Why We Can't Have Nice Things:
This article discusses the decline in ornate and intricately designed objects over time, such as architecture, furniture, dishware, and more. The author argues that improved technology should have lowered the cost and made these products more accessible, but instead, there has been a shift towards plain and minimalist designs. People often cite affordability as a reason for this change in style; however, the author suggests that it is more likely due to changing preferences and prioritizing appearing fashionable over personal sense of beauty. The article encourages individuals to demand beautiful objects by supporting local artists and Etsy craftsmen, potentially influencing broader market trends.
Crunchy Bridge for Analytics: Your Data Lake in... | Crunchy Data Blog:
The article introduces Crunchy Bridge for Analytics, a new offering that enables users to query and interact with data lakes using PostgreSQL commands via extensions. With this tool, users can easily set up tables that point directly to Parquet, CSV, or JSON files in object storage, without needing to specify which columns are in the file(s). The tool also comes with powerful data import and export capabilities, allowing users to create regular or temporary tables from files in object storage, load additional data, or export tables and query results back into object storage. Bridge for Analytics takes advantage of range requests to speed up queries on Parquet files and automatically caches them on NVMe drives for improved performance. The tool is part of the Crunchy Bridge service, an enterprise-grade managed PostgreSQL service that includes saved queries, built-in connection pooling, VPC, container apps, and more.
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🇪🇺 Dear Europe, please wake up – eu/acc | Andreas Klinger:
The author, who has lived in San Francisco and invested in numerous companies globally, discusses Europe's potential decline in the global market due to its complex legal systems and a perceived risk-averse mentality. They argue that Europe is not as doomed as many may believe and propose two main suggestions for improvement: creating an EU Inc (similar to the US Delaware Inc) and teaching English in schools from an early age. The author emphasizes that the goal is not to create a completely homogenous Europe but rather to have one single market where international players can compete with local ones, resulting in better outcomes for everyone involved.
"Good enough" is good enough!:
The article discusses the idea that striving for perfection in software development may not always be the best approach. Instead, focusing on simplicity and iterative improvement can lead to better outcomes. This is known as the „worse is better“ or „New Jersey approach,“ which has been gaining popularity over time. The author defends this approach by providing examples from various software systems that have succeeded through pragmatic simplicity rather than theoretical refinement and completeness. The article concludes with a call to think grandiose but act humble in the pursuit of software development, recognizing that achieving perfection is not always necessary for success.
Hitting every branch on the way down:
The author discusses their frustrations with using autoconf for building software on BSD-flavored systems. After attempting to use a build tool without resorting to older methods, they encountered issues with Protobuf's compiler and missing #includes. They found that there were other problems with the code as well, such as missing definitions in certain libraries. The author also discovered inconsistencies and lack of explanation for changes made to the Protobuf repository. Despite the challenges faced while building their software on BSD systems, they eventually managed to resolve most issues by switching to a more suitable version of Protobuf and using pkg-config for compilation.
Ask HN: Can Devin genuinely replace the roles of developers?:
The article discusses whether AI coding assistants, such as Devin, will replace developers in the future. While it acknowledges that current tools like ChatGPT can make software development faster and more efficient, some argue that they cannot fully replace a skilled developer's knowledge and expertise in fields like architecture, requirements analysis, debugging, and optimization. Instead, these tools might change the nature of interviews for developers by eliminating leetcode-like homework assignments. The article suggests that as AI technology continues to advance, the role of a software engineer may evolve but not disappear entirely.
Cats suffer H5N1 brain infections, blindness, death after drinking raw milk:
On a Texas dairy farm, cows began showing symptoms of H5N1 bird flu on March 16, with their milk production dropping and turning thick and creamy yellow. The next day, cats consuming the raw milk from the sick cows also became ill, resulting in over half of the farm's cats dying from the flu by March 20. A study published in Emerging Infectious Diseases found that the cats had H5N1 not only in their lungs but also in their brains, hearts, and eyes. The contaminated milk was likely the source of the cat's fatal infections. Since March 25, the USDA has confirmed the presence of H5N1 in at least 34 dairy herds across nine states. Cows have become the latest addition to H5N1's broad host range, which includes various mammals and wildlife species. The authors emphasized the need for surveillance of HPAI viruses in domestic production animals to prevent cross-species transmission.
PowerShell: the object-oriented shell you didn’t know you needed:
PowerShell is an interactive shell and scripting language developed by Microsoft. Unlike traditional Unix shells, it is object-oriented, making it a significant difference. It also functions well as an interactive shell for users.
This article discusses a situation where the author's code was running slow due to an issue in the k-means function from the Simple Statistics package. By analyzing the Javascript port of the ckmeans function, they discovered that it had a conditional missing a [0] which led the function to run an unnecessary loop more times. Adding the missing character made the code run 20x faster. The author emphasizes the importance of thoroughly examining open-source implementations and suggests looking for inconsistencies between the original and ported versions.
Questioning the Conventional Wisdom on Liability and Open Source Software:
The debate around software liability and the role of open source software has raised questions about potential liability-related obligations for companies and developers. Most modern applications have over 80% open source components, often maintained by volunteers. There are three main beliefs: open source software developers should not bear legal responsibility, final goods assemblers (software companies) should be responsible, and software liability laws will lead to broad corporate investment in the open source ecosystem. However, there could be counterclaims regarding malicious open source software developers bearing legal responsibility, avoiding end-of-life software components, and whether software liability laws will necessarily lead to increased investment in open source software.
The Nova classification is a framework for grouping edible substances based on the extent and purpose of food processing applied to them, with the aim of understanding the health implications of different food products. It classifies food into four groups: unprocessed or minimally processed foods; processed culinary ingredients; processed foods; and ultra-processed foods. The system has been used worldwide in nutrition and public health research, policy, and guidance as a tool for understanding the impact of different food products on human health. The Nova framework emphasizes social aspects of food processing and its intuitive nature makes it an effective communication tool in public health promotion.
Are Ultra-Processed Foods All That Unhealthy?:
The article discusses the concept of „ultra-processed foods“ and whether they are inherently less healthy than other types of food. The author points out that there is a lack of clear evidence to support the idea that these processed foods are harmful, but also notes that they may be linked to negative health outcomes due to factors such as energy density, texture, and palatability. The article also touches on issues related to nutrition research and public policy, suggesting that more careful changes need to be made in order to address potential problems with ultra-processed foods.
After private equity firms gobbled up wheelchair makers, users pay the price in long repair times:
Maureen Amirault, a Connecticut resident living with muscular dystrophy, purchased an electric wheelchair in 2020 through Numotion, a company that has faced numerous complaints about poor service and repair issues for their customers. The extended wait times to get wheelchairs fixed are common among the over 5 million wheelchair users nationwide. Numotion and National Seating & Mobility (NSM) dominate the country's wheelchair landscape and have both been owned by private equity companies for more than a decade, which critics argue has coincided with a decline in service. Connecticut legislators are considering implementing recommendations from a task force report to improve wheelchair repair services.
Why It's Hard to Get Hired Despite Glowing Jobs Reports:
The current job market has been experiencing difficulties in hiring candidates due to a variety of reasons, such as increased ghosting by employers and the growing difficulty of finding high-paying positions for qualified individuals. Some experts suggest that job numbers have become politicized and no longer reflect reality, making it harder for people to find suitable jobs. Additionally, there are concerns about companies hiring immigrants at lower salaries than domestic employees, especially in fields like technology where the demand is high.
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Is the GNOME Foundation Going to Go Bankrupt in 1 Year?:
Microsoft has released the source code for MS-DOS 4.0, which was initially developed in the late 1980s and became commercially unsuccessful. Despite being a historical release, the code does not compile and has been modified by Microsoft after the publication. This raises questions about the process that caused the code to be mangled and why it took Microsoft ten years to release the source code for this software they haven't used since the 1980s.
The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023):
The article discusses the denial of problems in the economy, with a focus on real wages decreasing three years into President Biden's presidency and loss in purchasing power being understated by CPI (Consumer Price Index). The author also mentions how the Federal Government may not be able to build millions of housing units overnight or force insurers and automakers to reduce their prices. Some contributing factors include reduced labor force participation, mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, and structural problems which cannot be fixed immediately.
Opinion | The U.S. economy’s problem? People forgot what ‘normal’ loo…:
This year has seen a „miracle“ in the US economy, with inflation plummeting without triggering a recession. The economy has gained 2.4 million jobs so far in 2022 and growth accelerated at an annualized rate of over 5% in the third quarter. However, there are signs that growth may slow as American consumers have been spending more than they earn lately. Job markets will be key to watch in determining future growth, with hiring slowing down and companies becoming more selective. The US economy currently has a low unemployment rate of 3.9%.
Opinion The U.S. economy’s big problem? People forgot what ‘normal’ looks like.:
The U.S. economy experienced a miraculous year with inflation decreasing without causing a recession. This occurred while the number of jobs grew by 2.4 million, resulting in an annualized growth rate over 5% in Q3. Despite public opinion being negative about the economy, economic activity shows otherwise, with increased consumer spending on apparel, concerts, and vacations marking a return to normalcy following difficult years.
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I Never Stopped Learning from Daniel Dennett:
The article is a tribute to the late Daniel Dennett, an influential philosopher and thinker who passed away recently. For the author, Anil Seth, Dennett was an exception to the saying „never meet your heroes.“ Seth was first inspired by Dennett's book, Consciousness Explained, which helped him understand consciousness better and provided a north star for his studies. Over the years, Seth read every book Dennett wrote and many of his papers, but always found it difficult to fully grasp Dennett's arguments due to their complexity.
Dennett was often referred to as a philosophical „illusionist,“ with some critics suggesting that consciousness doesn't exist. However, this is not what illusionism implies; rather, it claims that the relationship between consciousness and physical biological processes in the brain isn't a big mystery. Dennett had an unmatched legacy in literature and academia, particularly due to his ability to bring together philosophy and science. He was also fond of riffing on David Chalmers' „hard problem“ of consciousness with what he called the „hard question“: Once some (mental) content reaches consciousness, then what happens?
Seth concludes by stating that Daniel Dennett was a gentle giant in the intellectual world and will be sorely missed.
Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness:
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London observed bumblebees engaging in playful behavior with small wooden balls. This study is part of a body of research supporting the idea that consciousness may be widespread among animals, including invertebrates with simpler nervous systems. A group of prominent scholars signed a declaration stating that there's a realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates and many invertebrates, challenging previous consensus on animal consciousness. The study highlights the importance of providing opportunities for animals to express their instincts and explore their environments, taking into account their welfare.
I hate online Lorem Ipsum Generator so I made my own:
The article discusses Hipster Ipsum, a website that generates random lorem ipsum text with hipster-inspired words and phrases. Users suggest improvements such as multi-paragraph chunks and a toggle feature for randomizing the text on each copy. However, one user notes that the link provided is not working properly.
Bountysource Stole at Least $17,000 From Open Source Developers:
The article discusses Bountysource, an open-source funding platform that aimed to address issues with maintainers being exploited in the open source community. However, it eventually faced controversy over its terms of service and unpaid compensation to developers. Despite backlash and a reversal of the terms, Bountysource continued to struggle financially, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2023 with tens of thousands of dollars left unpaid. The article highlights that this situation is not unique to Bountysource, but rather another example of open-source developers being exploited and their voices not being amplified enough.
This study investigated the optimal balance of sitting, standing, light activity, and moderate to vigorous physical activity in a 24-hour day for reducing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes risk. Researchers analyzed data from over 2,000 adults who wore body sensors for seven days. The study found that the optimal amount of sleep is 8.3 hours, while light activity and moderate to vigorous physical activity should each be 2.2 hours per day. The study also emphasized the importance of reducing sitting time where possible, increasing standing and light-intensity physical activities, and aiming for a healthy sleep of 7.5–9 hours per night.
Rust to .NET compiler - Progress update:
The article discusses the progress made by a developer working on a Rust to .NET compiler backend called rustc_codegen_clr. The author recently had their proposal for the project accepted into Google Summer of Code, allowing them to focus solely on the project and speed up development. Their proposal involves improving the project's testing capabilities and fixing existing issues with command line arguments, support for atomic intrinsics, multi-threading, better interop, dyn Trait objects, panic handling, and more. The author also shares some interesting insights about .NET's internal workings and features they have implemented so far in their project.
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Sunlight and Vitamin D: A global perspective for health:
The paper discusses the importance of vitamin D and sunlight exposure in human health, including its role in preventing various diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, and mental health issues. The paper also covers the factors that influence vitamin D production in the skin, including sun exposure, skin pigment, age, latitude, and season. Additionally, it explores approaches for preventing and treating vitamin D deficiency, such as sensible sun exposure, food fortification, and supplementation.
### System: The summary provided captures the main points of the article well, highlighting the importance of vitamin D and sunlight in human health, factors influencing its production, and strategies for prevention and treatment of deficiency. The language used is clear and concise, making it easy to understand the key points discussed in the paper.
This article discusses how SQL database engines translate input SQL text into „prepared statements“ and the advantages and disadvantages of using different methods, such as Bytecode and Tree-Of-Objects, for prepared statement representations. It highlights SQLite's use of bytecode as an efficient method that allows easy debugging, incremental execution, and smaller memory consumption. The article also mentions that tree-of-objects representation has its own advantages in terms of flexibility and dataflow programming but may have challenges in performance and memory usage.
The early days of computing saw programs written in machine code for each specific computer architecture, making software portability a challenge. With the creation of high-level programming languages like C and the emergence of operating systems that abstracted away hardware details, programmers could achieve source code portability. This led to the development of the POSIX standard in 1988, which provided a specification for Unix-like operating systems' interfaces, allowing programs to be compiled across different platforms. The latest version is POSIX.1-2017 (IEEE Std 1003.1-2017), but modern Unix-like systems like Linux and *BSD do not strictly follow the standard but use it as a guide.
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The old web has been dying due to factors such as social media, video content, SEO corruption, and mobile device limitations. However, there are still pockets of the old web with blogs, forums, and fan sites devoted to various topics. To keep the web alive, one can create their own content or support pages they enjoy by being nice and making a slight effort. Social media can be helpful in exposing friends to interesting websites while cracking the shell to the outside world just a little.
The Internet Archive's last-ditch effort to save itself:
Microsoft has released the source code for MS-DOS 4.0, which is a win for computer history preservation. However, there are issues with the release. The source code does not compile in its current state and has been modified by Microsoft, reducing its historical value. Additionally, Microsoft claims to have lost some of the source code. This release raises questions about the process behind it and why other versions of MS-DOS have not been released.
The article discusses the potential issues with ultra-processed foods as a leading public health problem and how the evidence on its effects is not entirely clear. Researchers have found that ultra-processed foods are often associated with worse health outcomes, including obesity, heart disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's. However, there is a lack of solid research connecting these processed foods directly to modern health problems. The article emphasizes that some ultra-processed foods might not be harmful and can play a role in a healthy diet. Additionally, it highlights the need for further research to better understand the mechanisms by which these foods impact human health and suggests focusing on making it easier for people to choose healthier options over ultra-processed alternatives.
FireChat was a tool for revolution. Then it disappeared.:
FireChat, an off-grid messaging app launched by Open Garden in 2011, gained popularity for allowing users to communicate without internet access. It became a powerful tool for revolutionary movements and protests, as it could bypass centralized Internet Service Providers. The app relied on Bluetooth and WiFi signals to create peer-to-peer connections called mesh networks. However, after its effectiveness was demonstrated during the Hong Kong protests in 2014, security concerns led Open Garden to update FireChat with end-to-end encryption in 2015. Despite its promising technology and potential for revolutionary communication, FireChat and its parent company, Open Garden, closed without explanation in June 2020. The app's disappearance highlights the threat it posed to the centralized and monopolistic nature of the internet.
93% of Paint Splatters are Valid Perl Programs:
This paper addresses a long-standing question in programming languages about whether it's possible to smear paint on a wall without creating valid Perl code. Using optical character recognition (OCR) software, the authors found that only 93% of paint splatters parsed as valid Perl programs. They analyzed the properties of these paint-splatter Perl programs and presented seven examples which are not valid Perl programs. The paper was accepted for publication at SIGBOVIK 2019 and explores the concept of „unwitting participation ribbons“ to further open science and procrastination.
Pulumi AI is poisoning Google search results with AI answers · Issue #79 · pulumi/pulumi-ai:
The article is about the „pulumi-ai“ repository and its statistics, such as 15 forks and 220 stars. However, it also mentions that „You can't perform that action at this time.“ which indicates a potential limitation or restriction on certain actions related to the repository.
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Tiered Storage Won’t Fix Kafka:
Tiered storage, which involves moving historical data to cheaper object storage and only persisting recent data on cloud disks, is a hot topic in the world of data streaming systems. Although it has potential benefits such as reducing costs and simplifying operations, users have reported that tiered storage does not live up to its promise. The main issues with tiered storage are increased complexity and operational burden, as well as no reduction in inter-zone networking fees. Instead of being the silver bullet for Kafka users, tiered storage can make their systems more difficult and expensive to manage.
Physical Fitness and Risk of Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents:
This study investigated the association between physical fitness and long-term risks of mental disorders in children and adolescents using data from Taiwan's National Student Fitness Tests and National Health Insurance Research Databases. The results showed that better-performing fitness quantiles exhibited lower cumulative incidences of anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Enhanced cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular endurance, and muscular power were independently associated with reduced mental disorder incidences in children and adolescents, even after accounting for confounding factors. The study highlights the potential protective role of physical fitness components in preventing the onset of mental disorders.
Webb captures iconic Horsehead Nebula in unprecedented detail:
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured the sharpest infrared images to date of the Horsehead Nebula, an iconic object in our skies. These observations showcase the nebula's complexity with unprecedented spatial resolution, focusing on the illuminated edge of its distinctive dust and gas structure. The Horsehead Nebula is a well-known photon-dominated region, and thanks to Webb's instruments, an international team of astronomers revealed small-scale structures of the illuminated edge for the first time. These observations will help astronomers study the physical and chemical properties of the material observed across the nebula. The James Webb Space Telescope is an international partnership between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
How do you accidentally run for President of Iceland?:
The digital endorsement process for the Icelandic presidential election caused confusion among users due to a UX issue with the registration page. People were accidentally registering as candidates instead of making endorsements, leading to 82 people collecting endorsements, including comedians and models. Digital Iceland redesigned the page to prioritize endorsements and improve content design, preventing further unintentional candidacy registrations.
Intels Lösung für instabile CPUs: Haltet die Spezifikationen ein!:
Core processors from the 13th and 14th generation are crashing more frequently due to extreme overclocks enabled by motherboard manufacturers, according to Intel. In a statement to external hardware developers, Intel outlines a workaround for these frequent instabilities: mainboard firmware should simply set values that Intel has also specified in its processor specifications. This is a clear reminder to motherboard manufacturers not to over-tax the 13th and 14th generation Core processors with overclocking functions, including the top model Core i9-14900KS. Increasing the maximum power consumption for the second of two Power Limits (PL2) from 253W to 320W in this processor can bring about a small increase in computational performance but also leads to ongoing high temperatures and currents in silicon. If all limitations in BIOS or UEFI are removed, the 14900KS can reach over 400W of consumption. This is unsustainable for any processor over time leading to crashes in games and other applications, with Windows providing misleading error messages. In its statement, Intel clearly points out that these instabilities are caused by BIOS settings: „Intel has observed that motherboards with chipsets from the 600 series and 700 series frequently set BIOS presets to disable thermal protection and power supply protection measures designed to limit CPU stress due to prolonged periods of high voltage and frequency.“ Intel recommends that its partners adhere to limits on clock speed, power consumption, and temperature in BIOS settings. If there is an option to remove these limits, users must be warned about potential risks. In recent weeks, companies like Asus and Gigabyte have provided updates for some of their motherboards but not all models. These new BIOS versions still need to reach the end-users and may need to be installed manually. Intel is currently investigating affected processor samples as it believes that the „root cause“ has not yet been identified. It's possible that internal protection mechanisms within the CPUs might fail after or during extreme overclocking situations. These protection mechanisms should automatically regulate voltage, frequency and clock speed if they exceed certain thresholds to ensure system stability.
Mastodon: Laut Finanzamt nicht mehr gemeinnützig:
The German open-source social media platform Mastodon has been forced to pay more taxes on donations after the country's tax authority revoked its non-profit status. A US-based non-profit organization has now been established. Eugen Rochko, founder of Mastodon, announced in a blog post that the German tax office had withdrawn the platform's non-profit status without providing a specific reason. Mastodon gGmbH was initially recognized as a non-profit by the same tax office in 2021, allowing the company to pay less tax on donations.
Despite this change, Rochko states that the platform's operations have remained consistent since 2016, focusing on producing open-source software and providing a free service to the public through mastodon.social. He also notes that their income primarily comes from Patreon, which does not require a non-profit status, and they have not issued any donation receipts since 2021.
Mastodon has not been endangered by this decision as it is still operational due to the fact that Patreon does not require a non-profit status for its income. Instead, Mastodon has now established a U.S.-based non-profit organization in order to continue receiving donations. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is part of the new organization's board, and there have already been significant donations from figures such as Stack Overflow founder Jeff Atwood and Mozilla's $100,000 each. This funding will enable Mastodon to create a third full-time developer position; currently, the platform has only two employees in its core team.
Additionally, Heise online is also present on Mastodon (https://social.heise.de/) and operates its own server.
Beschwerde von Datenschützern zu ChatGPT:
Die europäische Datenschutzorganisation noyb hat zusammen mit einem betroffenen europäischen Bürger eine Datenschutzbeschwerde gegen den ChatGPT-Anbieter OpenAI eingereicht, da dieser die Europäische Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (DSGVO) verletze. Die Organisation wirft OpenAI unter anderem vor, persönliche Daten unrichtig anzugeben und die gesetzlich vorgeschriebene Möglichkeit einer Berichtigung oder Löschung einzuräumen zu verweigern. noyb fordert eine Untersuchung der Datenverarbeitungspraktiken von OpenAI sowie die Verhängung eines Bußgeldes durch die österreichische Datenschutzbehörde. Der Fall könnte beim Europäischen Gerichtshof landen.
Businesses Are Getting People Killed:
The number one local obstruction to curbing traffic violence in the United States is local commerce and merchant groups, who are often opposed to safety improvements such as bike lanes and pedestrian zones. This opposition arises from a belief that any customers they get are drivers, with business owners and merchants disproportionately listening to their patrons who drive and complain about parking. Despite the high cost of traffic violence in terms of deaths and injuries, localities often refuse to deal with this issue due to pressure from these groups. It is essential for change to start at a local level through hassling local elected officials, forming groups, starting petitions, and informing businesses that patrons besides motorists matter.
Forget Moonshots. Investors Want Profit Now. - WSJ:
The market's focus has shifted from ambitious projects towards making money. Investors are now demanding a clear route to return on corporate cash invested in new projects, leading companies like Tesla to pull back from plans for an all-new car platform and speed up the launch of cheaper vehicles. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms faced investor concerns over its plan to sink billions more into artificial intelligence while guiding to lower-than-expected sales for this quarter. This shift in investor priorities is due to bond yields; with interest rates near zero, money was more acceptable towards risky ventures that wouldn't pay dividends for years, if ever. As interest rates rise, the importance of clear routes to making money becomes more critical.
Atomic Nucleus Excited with Laser: A Breakthrough after Decades:
Physicists have successfully discovered a specific state of thorium atomic nuclei, which could potentially revolutionize technological applications. This state can be used to build nuclear clocks that measure time more precisely than existing atomic clocks and answer fundamental questions in physics such as whether the constants of nature are constant or change over space and time. Using lasers to transfer an atomic nucleus into a higher energy state and then track its return to its original state, researchers were able to combine classical quantum physics and nuclear physics. The discovery opens up new opportunities for precision measurements in various fields, including building more accurate clocks and exploring the constants of nature.
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Sanders hits back at Netanyahu: ‘It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable’:
Bernie Sanders criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for claiming that US universities were being overrun by antisemitism, accusing him of using the issue to distract from his government's actions in Gaza. Sanders argued against Netanyahu's accusation that there was a rise in antisemitism comparable to Nazi Germany and highlighted humanitarian aid blocked by Netanyahu's government. The criticism comes amid ongoing protests on US university campuses regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with some students reporting feeling threatened.
The article discusses the legendary phenomenon associated with Brocken Mountain in Germany, where backscatter sunlight against fog can cause a person's shadow to be magnified and projected upon clouds, creating an eerie ghostly image. This optical illusion has been interpreted as an ominous presence across the snow-covered Harz Mountains for centuries. The article also delves into the historical background of Walpurgisnacht, a European tradition marked by bonfires and church bells on April 30, which is seen as a time when supernatural forces are at their strongest. It explores how this day has always been defined by ambiguity and confusion, and how the liminal space between winter and spring allows for a sense of connection with the supernatural realm.
Sonys frecher Gitterpreis und Canons APS-C-Trick – Fotonews der Woche 18/2024:
The article discusses the controversy surrounding Sony's paid updates for custom grid lines, which cost €149 in Europe and $149 in the USA. These updates allow users to upload up to four PNG files into their Sony A1, A7s III, A7 IV or A9 III cameras. The feature is primarily useful for those who need to quickly create numerous equally divided photos for yearbooks, photo albums, and other similar applications.
The article also notes that Nikon offers free updates, such as lossless digital zoom for the Z9 camera and auto-capture, known as „Focal Lock“ or „Auto-Capture“. The author suggests that Sony's paid update policy may be testing the pain threshold of users before other companies follow suit.
Lastly, the article briefly mentions Canon's RF mount opening to third-party lenses, but concludes by recommending the latest edition of c't Fotografie magazine for a wide variety of photography topics and in-depth articles.
Wollen Schligda fangen: Pokémon-Spieler erstellen Fake-Strände bei Openstreetmap:
In Pokémon Go wurde das Wurm-Pokémon Schligda am 22. April verfügbar. Da es nur in Küstengebieten gefangen werden kann, sind einige Spieler bestrebt, gefälschte Strände auf Openstreetmap hinzuzufügen, um einfach ein Schligda zu fangen, falls sie in der Nähe eines echten Strandes leben. Dies ist nicht das erste Mal, dass Nutzer von Openstreetmap gefälschte Daten hinzufügen, um Pokémon Go zu nutzen, und es wird empfohlen, die Echtheit der Informationen nachträglich zu überprüfen.
How Do I Prepare My Phone for a Protest? (Updated 2024) – The Markup:
This article discusses how to prepare your phone for protests, considering privacy risks such as location tracking and interception of messages by law enforcement. It suggests using passcodes instead of biometric locks and encrypting data. The article also advises turning off notifications and stripping image files of metadata before sharing them, covering up identifying information in social media posts, and carrying a written list of emergency contacts.
Microsoft plans to lock down Windows DNS like never before. Here’s how.:
Microsoft has provided a glimpse into its comprehensive framework called ZTDNS (zero trust DNS), which is aimed at improving the security of the Domain Name System (DNS) within Windows networks. The two main features of ZTDNS are encrypted and cryptographically authenticated connections between end-user clients and DNS servers, as well as the ability for administrators to tightly restrict the domains these servers will resolve. By integrating the Windows DNS engine with the Windows Filtering Platform directly into client devices, ZTDNS aims to solve the longstanding security issue of human-readable domain names being translated into numerical IP addresses without sufficient encryption.
How Rebel ‘Star Wars’ Fans Saved the Original Movies:
George Lucas initially released altered „special editions“ of the first Star Wars trilogy, adding new or revised scenes and computer-generated effects. Fans have been seeking high-definition releases of the unaltered movies for years. A group called Team Negative One has spent over a decade restoring the original „Star Wars“ trilogy in 4K from 35-millimeter prints, despite not being authorized and having questionable legality. The team's goal was to make the films look as good as the official releases. Lucas has insisted that he is fulfilling his vision for the movies, which was technologically and financially impossible when they were first made.
What Happens When a Romance Writer Gets Locked Out of Google Docs:
On March 24, 2024, writer K. Renee experienced a Google Drive issue where all her works in progress were frozen and inaccessible on her phone, tablet, and laptop. The shared Google folders containing the files were no longer accessible, displaying a message that she had been locked out due to not having permission to view the document. When K. Renee tried to share the documents again, she was informed by Google that they couldn't be shared because they had been flagged as inappropriate. The issue remained for two days before being resolved. It is unclear whether this was an error or if her content had indeed been deemed inappropriate by Google.
Was the Stone Age Actually the Wood Age?:
A recent analysis of 300,000-year-old wooden tools has revealed that Neanderthals were even better craftsmen than previously thought. Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist and head of research at the Department of Cultural Heritage of Lower Saxony in Germany, suggests that wooden tools have been around as long as stone ones, about two and a half or three million years, but since wood deteriorates and rarely survives, it distorts our view of antiquity. The study published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provided the first comprehensive report on wooden objects excavated from 1994 to 2008 in an open-pit coal mine near Schöningen, Germany. The rich haul included two dozen spears and double-pointed throwing sticks, which are considered the oldest preserved hunting weapons. This discovery upended prevailing ideas about the intelligence, social interaction, and toolmaking skills of our extinct human ancestors, showing that they were sophisticated enough to fashion tools and weapons for hunting big game.
Climate emissions from air travel 50 per cent higher than reported:
A new study has calculated greenhouse gas emissions from air travel for nearly every country on Earth, finding that total aviation-related emissions in 2019 reached 911 million tonnes, a 50% increase compared to the UN's reported figure of 604 million tonnes. The research is significant as it provides the first per-country inventory of aviation emissions and fills reporting gaps for countries that were not required to report their emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The study revealed that China, which did not report its 2019 aviation-related emissions, was second only to the US in total emissions and highlighted the need for further reductions in aviation-related carbon footprints.
No, I don’t want to fill out your contact form:
The article argues that contact forms are often worse than simply providing an email address on a website for users to reach out. It explores reasons why companies might still use them, such as collecting structured data or making it easier for people to contact them. However, the author suggests that most of these reasons can be addressed by just listing an email address and using tools like Zendesk and Zoho Desk for team collaboration. The article highlights issues with contact forms, such as being broken, time-consuming to fill out, asking for irrelevant personal information, not meeting web accessibility standards, and increasing the risk of identity fraud. It concludes by advising companies to remove their contact forms and list an email address on their websites.
StarCoder2-Instruct: Fully Transparent and Permissive Self-Alignment for Code Generation:
This article discusses StarCoder2, a fully transparent and permissive self-alignment tool for code generation. It is licensed under Apache-2.0 and has received 86 stars and 6 forks on GitHub.
The Canadian State Is Euthanizing Its Poor and Disabled:
The Canadian state is being accused of euthanizing its poor and disabled citizens due to the increasingly high assisted-death rates within the country. With one of the highest physician-assisted death rates globally, it's clear that there are systemic problems with the provision of social care in Canada. The lack of robust welfare state support combined with structural poverty and discrimination toward disabled people is making access to medically assisted death (MAiD) a more viable option for many. This issue has been exacerbated by underinvestment in medical care, which pushes people closer to the edge and makes the choice of euthanasia more appealing than facing ongoing challenges within an unforgiving system.
Backblaze Drive Stats for Q1 2024:
Backblaze monitored 283,851 hard drives and SSDs in their cloud storage servers as of the end of Q1 2024. They analyzed the drive stats data of 279,572 hard drives grouped into 29 drive models, finding an annualized failure rate (AFR) of 1.41% for Q1 2024. The company removed boot drives and shared their observations on the age of drive failure by model, drive size, and more. Backblaze also discussed the average age of failures among retired drive models, predicting an increase in the average age once these drive models retire. Additionally, they provided insights into drive performance based on the AFR and lifetime confidence interval for different drive sizes and manufacturers.
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How to style React applications while the world burns around us:
The author describes their struggle with styling a React app during the COVID-19 pandemic and election period in the US. They discuss the importance of design systems, modularity, and composability for creating interfaces that users can modify or assemble from scratch using interchangeable building blocks. They explore various UI component libraries, including Bootstrap, Zurb Foundation, Material UI, Semantic UI, Ant Design, and Google's Material Design system. The author highlights the challenges of working with CSS due to its global scope and cascading properties, as well as the benefits of using CSS-in-JS frameworks like Tailwind CSS for simplifying styling tasks and achieving a more modular approach.
Good Ideas in Computer Science:
The article explores universally good ideas in computer science that aren't debated or considered controversial. These include the following concepts and their respective years: Binary Numbers (1500s), Programmable Computers (1837), Boolean Algebra (1847), Floating Point Numbers (1936), Arrays (1942), Callable Units (1947), Hashmaps (1953), Call Stack (1957), Structured Programming (1958), Portable Programming Languages, Processes (1958), Packet Switching (1962), Virtual Address Space (1963), Memory Protection (1964), Version Control (1972), Public Key Cryptography (1973), Graphical User Interfaces (1973). The author also mentions excluded ideas like Garbage Collection and Databases, discussing various programming concepts that are considered good or bad by different programmers.
Simplicity is An Advantage but Sadly Complexity Sells Better:
The article discusses the bias towards complexity in various fields such as paper submissions, promotion, and work artifacts. It explains that complexity sells better because it signals effort, mastery, innovation, and more features. However, simplicity is an advantage as it is easier to understand, build, scale, maintain, and has lower operational costs. The article also mentions that focusing on the problem's complexity instead of the solution's complexity can lead to better outcomes.
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The Runners Who Went So Hard They Were Never the Same:
This article is a summary of an episode of „The Outside Podcast“ which discusses overtraining syndrome (OTS), a mysterious sort of semi-illness that affects endurance athletes, particularly those in the ultra running community. The episode explores various aspects of OTS, such as its symptoms and causes, and how it is diagnosed. It also highlights the experiences of an athlete named Corrine Malcolm who suffered from overtraining syndrome and eventually recovered after quitting training completely.
Helldivers 2 Removed From Purchase On Steam In Over 150 Countries:
PlayStation's announcement that PC players of Helldivers 2 would need to sign in to a PSN account has led to the game being delisted from Steam in over 100 countries. The controversial decision means that around 177 countries are now unable to purchase Helldivers 2 on PC, due to many areas not having access to PSN. The move has been met with backlash, including negative reviews and reports of successful refunds from Steam. It is currently unclear if PlayStation will reverse the decision.
Why you should take a look at traefik, even if you don't use containers:
Traefik is a popular proxy server, particularly among YouTube home-lab users, that forwards requests to services and returns the responses while modifying headers and other aspects of the request and response. It has gained more recognition in recent years due to its microservices support. The software can be used without container engines as it compiles to a single executable file and supports configuration files. Traefik also offers features such as TLS Passthrough & PROXY protocol, making it an attractive option for non-container usage.