Thursday, October 28. 2021
Hackers steal $130 million from Cream Finance; the company’s 3rd hack this year
The attackers are believed to have found a vulnerability in the platform’s lending system —called flash loaning— and used it to steal all of Cream’s assets and tokens running on the Ethereum blockchain, according to blockchain security firm BlockSec, which also posted an explanation of the security flaw on Twitter earlier today.
People prepping for the end of the world love cryptocurrency. You know, money that only works if everything on the internet does. Good luck with that.
Forget “Best” or “Sincerely,” This Email Closing Gets the Most Replies
The first shall be last and the last shall be first and "Best" shall be last.
Why the U.S. Navy Never Built Titanium Submarines Like Russia
There was simply no conceivable supply chain in place to make the serial production of titanium even remotely cost-efficient. The Papa-class prototype cost an astonishing 1 percent of the Soviet Union’s entire 1968 GDP, and that doesn’t factor in titanium’s unique maintenance and component degradation costs.
Yeah, but titanium submarines sure helped the Russians beat the Afghan navy pretty quick. Anyway, the US Defense department also seems to be based solely on the "money is no object" procurement plan. Wait until we're totally soviet to find out what that really means. You won't have to wait long.
Hardy Kruger Would Approve
This guy literally makes a working miniature Airbus RC airplane right in front of you. It turns out that Hardy Kruger in the Flight of the Phoenix was right all along.
The original Flight of the Phoenix was a great movie. The remake, not so much.
China limits construction of 'super high-rise buildings'
"Every building aims to be a landmark, and the developers and city planners try to achieve this goal by going extreme in novelty and strangeness."
That's the 21st century in a nutshell.
The Great Competition to Give Away Money
The word people are most comfortable using to describe the current moment right now is “froth.” But some people are willing to go further in describing what, to a cynic, can seem like irrational exuberance. “The VCs are reacting rationally to the environment that they're in,” said Martin Kenney, a UC Davis professor who studies the venture capital industry. “But the environment could be irrational.”
The headline describes venture capital investment as "giving away money." That's the 21st century in a nutshell.
Why The Metaverse will be Bigger than Facebook and Google Combined
Metaverse is a collection of various virtual worlds, game worlds if you want, capable of possible cooperation. This means that these worlds and the games they are represented in them will be connected at some point in the future. But it doesn't stop with the games. In the metaverse, you can virtually check an NFT gallery of famous real-world artists, play a game on your mobile while your friends play the same game from XBOX or PS5, you can then check a new musical artist in his recent virtual streamed performance, and finally to perform almost every programmable simulation of a situation from our lives, such as learning to drive a car, plane, a rocketship, and so one.[sic]
I'm sure guaranteed basic income and phony empty box refund claims from Amazon will make this wonderful new world possible.
Solid-State Batteries Rev Up Electric Cars, Boost Grid Storage
In tests, a laboratory prototype delivered 500 charge and discharge cycles with 80% capacity retention at room temperature. In contrast, previous studies with silicon anodes usually only achieved roughly 100 stable cycles.
Not really a battery per se. It's a (super)capacitor. Supercapacitors are the only thing that will make electric cars really viable. They'll figure it out eventually, and think of all the money you can make running a superfund recycling site for Tesla batteries when they do.
The fluoride wars rage on
Some toxicologists and epidemiologists are now questioning whether even low doses of fluoride can have systemic effects, including causing a dip in IQ in children who were exposed to it in utero. The first indications of this came from studies that compared unfluoridated villages and communities with fluoridated ones (where fluoride is either naturally occurring or added to water), followed by better-controlled studies that measured fluoride in individuals.
I once heard someone whose medical coverage didn't cover dental work describe teeth as "luxury bones."
Home Values Soared in 2020 -- but So Did Property Taxes
The average property tax bill for a single-family home rose from $3,561 in 2019 to $3,719 in 2020, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. All told, property taxes for single-family homes increased $323 billion last year, or 5.4%, from the year before.
I'm sure towns and cities will use this extra money wisely, by investing in the additional police officers needed to arrest all the citizens who attend school board meetings, for instance.
Unvaccinated people are set to be BANNED from Berlin’s Christmas market after officials approved shutting them out in latest example of two-tier post-Covid society
That's truly the Christmas spirit, isn't it? I suggest Germans follow Groucho Marx's advice in these matters: Don't join any group willing to have you as a member.
Have a great Tuesday, everyone! Best, Roger. Oops
Wednesday, October 27. 2021
 Fruits are designed as attractions for critters to spread their seeds. Thus they contain sugar (fructose, not glucose) and a bit of fiber to hold it together.
Fruit is a fun snack, especially with pears. Pears are perfect with cheese.
If you want to lose weight, fruit is something to avoid. Fructose goes directly to fat storage.
This article is about stressful exercise, not about walking or "long slow 'cardio'": How does the brain respond to a single bout of exercise?
Jobs that Marry Together the Most
It's fun to press the random occupations button and see who's schtupping whom. Of course homemakers aren't on the list, because they don't exist and you're weird for asking why they're not.
Bitcoin is largely controlled by a small group of investors and miners, study finds
As opposed to the Federal Reserve, which has a single director, Beelzebub.
France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon
"This law is necessary to regulate the distorted competition within online book sales and prevent the inevitable monopoly that will emerge if the status quo persists," the ministry told Reuters.
Wow. French people talking sense. Truly it must be the end times. Oh, they fix the problem by charging the customer more. Never mind.
How Much Do Los Angeles Interns Get Paid?
Interns get paid? Who knew? According to the graphic, a social media intern makes about double what a healthcare intern makes. Legal interns make the most, probably because medical malpractice lawsuits caused by low wage healthcare interns pay great.
Giant, free index to world's research papers released online
No thanks. I get all my vital information from brilliantine dullards who read scripts written by social media interns on the TV news.
Securing your digital life, part one: The basics
Pro Tip: Leaving your password on a Post-It note appended to the screen isn't good. It's especially not good if you're using the computer at the library.
Walmart Billionaire Marc Lore Is Planning a $500 Billion “City of the Future”
He’s devised a “reformed version of capitalism” with Telosa he calls “equitism,” where anyone can build and sell homes, but the city retains ownership of the land underneath.
Hmm. That sort of arrangement isn't new. It's called a favela overseas, or an Indian Reservation around here. Good luck with that.
Scientists claim that planet 9 could actually be a primordial black hole with a diameter of just a few centimeters
Planet 9 is a hypothesized large planet that would be located in the outer parts of our solar system, far beyond the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. The existence of planet 9 would explain the weird orbits of some transneptunian objects that are hard to be explained without it.
Women, minorities, Neil DeGrasse Tyson hardest hit.
A photographer and artist walk into a fake news factory
Ostensibly a photobook on the small Macedonian town of Veles, which made international headlines in 2016 as the unlikely factory of pro-Trump fake news, The Book of Veles created a furore after Bendiksen revealed that the project’s images were synthetically generated using 3D software and the book’s text was written entirely by artificial intelligence. Fascinated with the story of Veles as well as with developments in synthetic imagery, Bendiksen set out to see just how “real” he could make his images. Although he left breadcrumbs throughout the text, to his surprise the book was published in April 2021 to “nice, positive echo-chamber feedback,” said Bendiksen. No one questioned the authenticity of the images or text.
So, every molecule of the story was fake, except the part that smears Trump. That was totally legit. Got it.
Humans Are Actually Terrible at Navigating Cities, Study of Over 14,000 People Shows
According to mobile phone data from over 14,000 people living their daily lives, humans are terrible at calculating the shortest route through city streets. And the reason is really simple: our brains want us to face the direction we are going in, even if that's not the most efficient way of getting to our destination.
Better headline: Cities are actually terrible at accommodating humans.
Microsoft beats revenue expectations, reporting 22% growth
Microsoft is IBM now. Kinda staid, reliable, always makes money. No one gets fired for hiring Microsoft, as they say. IBM is now, oh, I don't know, Fotomat.
The Unique Pros and Cons of Being An Older Dad
According to life-expectancy charts issued by the CDC, she can expect to lose me before she is 30. Then, after my wife dies — if she doesn’t precede me — my daughter will be all alone in the world.
That's why being a sugar daddy makes more sense. You can be a sugar daddy at any old age. And your protege won't mind if you die. She might even help.
Tuesday, October 26. 2021
 Inverness has several shops which sell waxed jackets. They sell models that are more for working purposes rather than the more style-oriented ones available in the US. If any place in the world is right for a Barbour or similar brands, it is Scotland.
Gore-tex made waxed clothing obsolete, more or less, but people still like it. What is not widely-known is that Gore-Tex, over time, loses its waterproofing effect and you have to replace the item. Waxed cotton and waxed canvas can be re-proofed. I have waxed canvas Filson hunting pants, waxed canvas hunting brush chaps, a Barbour, maybe something else too. Damn things are heavy to wear compared to Gore Tex.
If these things get too dirty or muddy on the outside, you just brush then off or hose it off with cold water. But what about when the lining gets sweaty and smelly? Ideally it won't because of the other stuff you are wearing, but if you want to clean it out, how?
I read up on the topic. The only way to do it that protects the wax is to hose down the lining with cold water. No soap, etc - just cold water. Let it soak, then hose it again and let it air-dry. That's all you can do until the jacket needs re-proofing, at which time the company cleans the lining too.
The Perfect Pull-Up
Whether you want to view pull-ups as weight-lfting or as a calisthenic, it is a strength-builder for the entire upper body. The problem is that many middle-aged people have trouble doing reps without assistance. Does assistance really help over time?
A couple of years ago we had a one-month push-up challenge, and it worked for those who kept with it daily. The goal was 100 push-ups/day by the end of the month (not 100 at once, but 100 daily). Turned out that it was quite do-able with good results even for push-up beginners - and for women. Their reps got longer, and their muscles got tougher.
There are a couple of women I see in the gym doing 20 pull-up reps. They look fit, but neither muscular nor skinny.
A 60-day 100 pull-up challenge might work too, but I do not know how to begin it for those who cannot do a single one.
Ideas?
The “Permanent Crisis” of the Humanities
Initially, the term studia humanitatis didn’t signify the pursuit of theological, metaphysical, or philosophical knowledge, or, as some contemporary commentators claim about the modern humanities, the cultivation or training of the soul as an end in itself. But they propounded a more modest notion: that the kinds of technical skills and knowledge that humanists taught—reading, writing, and speaking about ancient Latin and Greek texts—helped prepare students for study in the higher faculty, as well as for lives as active citizens.
It is that modest notion which eventually led to the devaluation of the studia humanitatis in the 17th and 18th centuries. According to Wellmon, scholars began to look down on the humanities because they didn’t prepare students to do anything in particular—but rather just imparted generalized knowledge intended to groom the elite...
This is what the coming Depression will look like now that we have Instagram.
On to the news!
Why aviation’s compass is shifting towards True navigation
I guarantee your luggage will stick with the old method.
Privacy is a Human Right
Rights have concomitant responsibilities. Stop clutching homing beacons and sending randos pictures of your private parts, and then we'll talk.
Here's the FBI's Internal Guide for Getting Data from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon
The only question remaining about the FBI is whether it's always been evil.
We need to talk about how Apple is normalising surveillance
I don't.
New York Times Journalist Ben Hubbard Hacked with Pegasus after Reporting on Previous Hacking Attempts
They took over his iPhone with an email attachment. He gets his online privacy advice from his granny, I guess.
Right-to-disconnect policies included in new labour legislation being introduced by Ontario government
They'll still time warehouse workers in the bathroom, however.
Hertz Order for 100,000 EVs Sends Tesla Value to $1 Trillion
Hertz just went bankrupt. Now they're spending Wall Street Bets dough. Wisely, as usual.
Accidental leak reveals US government has secretly hit Google with 'keyword warrants' to identify ANYONE searching certain names, addresses, and phone numbers
That's why I only search for porn online. It's safer.
Facing sky-high connection fees, rural Ontarians go off the grid
They use a substantial amount of electricity, too, which is unusual for off-grid. Good for them.
Facebook Reports Third Quarter 2021 Results
An obscenity wrapped in a travesty inside a perversion.
Blacklisted Chinese tech giant Huawei paid Tony Podesta $500,000 to lobby the White House
They should have skipped the middleman and sent it direct to the Big Guy. He must have a drive-up window at this point.
Viewing website HTML code is not illegal or “hacking,” prof. tells Missouri gov.
Conservatives are never going to figure out how the internet works. Hint: it doesn't work for you.
Chicago poised to create one of the nation’s largest ‘guaranteed basic income’ programs
This sounds like looting with extra steps.
Decades after polio, Martha is among the last to still rely on an iron lung to breathe
Did she write the bulk of any series?
From Homes to Cars, It’s Now Time to Electrify Everything
That's funny. Stalin said the same thing.
Have a great Tuesday, everyone.
Monday, October 25. 2021
 I had one rummaging around in my shrubs recently (American Red Squirrel), and had not seen one here for years. Cute little guys, not often seen on the ground or away from good-sized conifer stands.
There is a Eurasian Red Squirrel too.
Don't get all down in the mouth because it's Monday. Every day is a gift, remember? Of course Monday is a gift of socks under life's Christmas tree, but it's still a gift, isn't it?
Monday is useful if you're clever. I remember this one time, back when I was working at a jewelry store. This very elderly man came into the store one Saturday, with an amazing young woman on his arm. The guy had to be eighty, easy, and might have weighed ninety pounds. The woman probably caused four traffic accidents just crossing the street. That sort of arrangement is none of my business, so I just asked him what he wanted.
"She'd like to see a really nice ring."
I figured he wanted to impress the woman, so I trotted out a $4,000 diamond job. The girl put it on her finger, and held it up to the light to see the sparkle.
"How much is it," he asked. I told him.
"Look," he said, "I told you I wanted to see a really nice ring. Not this cheap trinket. Go back and get this girl a ring worthy of her finger."
I went out in the back and rummaged around and found the most expensive ring in the shop. We didn't even display it, it was so obscenely expensive and gaudy. It looked like a doorknob in Liberace's house.
"How much is it?"
"It's $63,000."
"Is a check OK? You can deposit it on Monday morning, and I'll be by on Monday afternoon to pick up the ring."
I closed the shop early and went out on a bender. I mean, I went to the barroom, the casino, the strip joint, the, the whole works. I blew the entire 20 percent commission in no time.
On Monday, I deposited the check, and the bank called me. I called the old man.
There's only $37 in your bank account! Do you know what kind of weekend I had? I blew $12,000 on a bender!"
"Don't brag," the old man replied, "Hell, I spent the weekend with the hottest woman in town and it only cost me $37."
So be smart, dear readers. Don't work for Monday. Make Monday work for you. On to the links:
Volcanic activity, seismic shifts: WWII ships from Battle of Iwo Jima raised from watery graves
Eruptions from volcanos in Japan’s Ogasawara Islands have caused movements in the earth’s crust, created a new island, and raised ships sunk during the Battle of Iwo Jima above the sea surface, according to Japan’s TV Asahi.
Funny that the Taiwan news is full of, well, Taiwan news. It's the American papers that are full of imminent Chicom invasions and WWIII . The number one story in this paper is a robbery at a convenience store.
We are recreating the entire planet in Minecraft
Our mission is to fully recreate the entire Earth in Minecraft at a 1:1 scale. One block in Minecraft equates to roughly one meter in the real world, meaning this project will fully recreate the size of our planet.
I'd volunteer to help, but I finally touched a boob some years back, and have moved on with my life.
Deadly infection linked to contaminated room spray sold at Walmart
The product, Better Homes and Gardens Lavender and Chamomile Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with Gemstones, was sold at 55 Walmart locations and on the company’s website from February to Oct. 21.
With gemstones? Do aromatherapy misters throw rocks at you, too, or just make you smell like a spinster aunt?
The Fatiguing Effects of Camera Use in Virtual Meetings: A Within-Person Field Experiment
For example, a global study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found an average increase in the overall number of meetings people attended postpandemic lockdown compared to prepandemic levels, but the length of these meetings was shorter, netting an overall 11.5% decrease in time spent in meetings since the start of the pandemic
That little tidbit is kinda buried in there. Apparently, you can manage people more efficiently remotely than face-to-face. Burying the lede, there, research dweebs.
A Very Big Little Country
Therefore, at this time, I deem it necessary to formally claim for myself all land between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west and south of 60 degrees south to include all seas and ice shelves. The area will henceforth be known as ‘The Achaean Territory of Antarctica.’ The purpose of this acquisition is to secure the territory for research and development and future colonization. Also, to protect it from those parties who would exploit the territory with misdeeds
I've similarly formally claimed the recliner to protect it from those parties who would exploit it, but the cat doesn't respect my authority, I guess.
Servicing and repairing electric cars requires new skills
McKinsey, a consultancy, thinks EVs may reduce spending on spare parts at American dealerships by as much as 40%. With no oil to change or spark plugs to replace, income from routine servicing will also be lower. Porsche’s Taycan, for one, is reckoned to need 30% less maintenance than if it was an ICE vehicle. And fewer items on the service sheet will require a trip to the dealership at all, as an increasing number of fixes are carried out with over-the-air software updates.
I am beset by doubts. I am looking forward to sitting by the side of the road in my bricked car while waiting on hold to talk to someone about my software update in pidgin English.
Tesla Bumps Model S And Model X Prices Higher By $5,000 Each
The Model X Long Range price has gone from $99,990 to $104,990. The Model X Plaid price has stayed the same at $119,990. The Model S long range price has moved from $89,990 to $94,990 for the cheapest version of the car. The Model S Plaid price remains $129,990.
But think of all the money you'll save on spark plugs!
Exosuit Designed in Woodruff School Helps with Awkward Lifts
Although most active exosuits support vertical lifts, rotating and twisting movements are also ubiquitous, especially in certain fields of manual labor like garbage collection and baggage handling. In many cases, these motions can be awkward and strenuous, leading to work-related injuries as well as back pain, according to Young. Back pain, in turn, is directly correlated with the strength of compressive forces and shear forces that are applied to the spine.
Back when I was doing heavy manual labor we already had a device on our backs that helped us lift more weight than we thought we could comfortably handle, and move it around faster than we ever dreamed possible. We called it the "Boss," and the technology that made it go was called "yelling."
Jedi Blue: A Scandal That Highlights, Yet Again, The Need To Regulate Big Tech
What is Jedi Blue? Basically a quid-pro-quo scheme that starts with Google’s 2007 acquisition of Double Click, and ends with Facebook, in 2018, agreeing not to challenge Google’s advertising business in return for a very special treatment in Google’s ad auctions.
The knucklehead author posits that this calls for more regulations. There's mention in the court documents that Facebook and Google had a plan on how to hide the plan if they were investigated. That's jail time, not regulation time.
COBOLing Together UI Benefits: How Delays in Fiscal Stabilizers Impact Aggregate Consumption
Using daily card consumption data from Affinity Solutions, I employ a two-way fixed effects estimator to measure the causal impact of COBOL-induced delays in UI benefits on aggregate consumption. The dela+++++\s caused a 4.4 percentage point relative decline in total card consumption in COBOL states relative to non-COBOL states. Performing a back-of-the-envelope calculation using 2019 data, I find that real GDP declined by $181 billion (in 2012 dollars).
I'll bet you the states still relying on COBOL and Madge in accounting had way more than $181 billion in savings because their old-fashioned methods didn't approve every fake claim immediately
A cautionary tale from the streets of San Francisco. A new book shows how well-meaning urban policies have backfired
For example, many on the left believe the lax prosecution of laws is compassionate. As a result, the city mostly does not enforce drug laws, even against dealers—at a mounting cost to addicts. Last year 713 people died of accidental drug overdoses, more than double the toll of covid-19. “What kind of city regulates ice-cream stores more strictly than drug-dealers who kill 713 of its citizens in a single year?”
The subheading on this article is a true example of begging the question. Who says urban policies have been "well-meaning"? It was criminals decriminalizing criminality. Film at eleven.
Have a great Tuesday, everyone!. Yeah, I know.
Sunday, October 24. 2021
Knowing about something, and knowing something, are different
- Anonymous
Job 38:1-7, (34-41)
38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
38:2 "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
38:3 Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
38:4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
38:5 Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
38:6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone
38:7 when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
38:34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you?
38:35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?
38:36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?
38:37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38:38 when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together?
38:39 "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
38:40 when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?
38:41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
Saturday, October 23. 2021
My Mom never liked snakes loose in the house either: Mysteries on the Water’s Edge – The Creek
|
