Posts by Catkin

Intel enlists Morgan Stanley to defend against activist investors

Re: Intel shares have lost nearly 60 percent of their value since the beginning of 2024. ....

As the article said, Intel's shares

Developer tried to dress for success, but ended up attired for an expensive outage

The rate of injury is lower than, for instance, walking

Per-distance travelled but that is for fatalities, not serious injuries. You're also not taking into account the average speed of the transport mode. The same argument would suggest that airbags and a seat belt are essential items for walking but not driving. To offer a little hand holding: the reduction in injury severity offered by a protective measure is as important as the rate of underlying risk.

Regurgitating the myth about helmets being harmful demonstrates an inability to distinguish between correlation and causation. It may, perhaps, assist in guiding policy but it's essentially misinformation when applied to an individual decision.

And if you really think a cycle helmet offers any meaningful protection I've got a bridge to sell you.

It seems entirely possible from your prowess on assessing bicycle helmet safety that you actually do have a bridge to sell and don't realise it.

Re: static sensitivity

How does one wear a product engineer?

I think it's easier for cyclists planning to ride on leafy lanes to take note and buy appropriately coloured clothing. The motorist might have to do some rather invasive research to ascertain if a given cyclist is likely to be sharing the road with them on said country lane, to say nothing of the difficulty with appropriately sizing the garment.

I find it challenging enough to wrestle them off their bicycles to fit them with a helmet if I notice one without adequate protection.

Virginia's datacenters guzzle water like there's no tomorrow, says FOI-based report

Re: What are they doing with it?

Algal bloom deoxygenation is actually rather interesting and complex. It's less to do with them not being a net contributor of dissolved oxygen and more to do with their subsequent decomposition, as well as them depriving more efficient oxygenators of sunlight.

Under-fire Elon Musk urged to get a grip on X and reality – or resign

Re: I’m just glad I’m getting old

"no blacks, no Irish, no dogs,"

A terribly minor point and I'm not denying that racism existed in Britain prior to (and, indeed, after) but the earliest reference to this that I've ever been able to find is in Plays and Players, volume 25, page 44 from 1977. Those words, as far as I can determine, never appear together before then in Internet searchable literature. I believe it is something of a myth that's been Mandela effected into our collective memory.

Re: followed by counter-protests, some peaceful and some not.

I presume they're referring to what happened in the Bordesley Green area of Birmingham, including the attack on reporter Becky Johnson. The far right lot were sadly quite cunning in spreading rumours of a protest and leaving a lot of angry counter protesters with nowhere to direct their anger.

I don't think anyone is suggesting equal proportions of violence and non-violence.

Would you rather buy space broadband from a billionaire, or Communist China?

Re: Will they allow VPNs?

Does starlink ban VPNs?

UK Royal Mint mining PCBs for precious metals in e-waste recovery effort

Re: news?

Could I ask what process you refer to? I don't believe aqua regia is used for general gold recovery unless exceptional purity (beyond that required for electronics) is required as the process (Wohlwill) requires a 'pool' of gold that cannot be fully extracted easily.

Five months after takedown, LockBit is a shadow of its former self

designing cluster bomblets to look like toys

[citation needed]

NASA pops repair kit in the mail so astronauts can fix leaky ISS telescope

Re: "keep doing groundbreaking science"

Base profit-making doesn't strike me as any worse than the saber rattling of the Space Race. Don't forget that especially the early years of it were basic public exhibitions of how the respective side could kill an entire city without warning or defence at the push of a button. Even space telescopes are basically spy satellites pointing in the other direction.

If a consequence of a rich and unpleasant person getting richer is more affordable access to space, that doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world.

US border cops really must get a warrant in NY before searching your phones, devices

Re: Unfortunately

I think that, while that correctly identifies the intricacies of jurisdiction, it downplays the significance of the opinions offered in Riley. Specifically, why there isn't a need to examine digital data that is acute enough to justify dispensing with a warrant.

Re: Unfortunately

Do you expect they'll overrule their prior decision? The only current Justice who wavers on Fourth Ammendment rights, as far as I'm aware, is Kavanaugh.

Logitech Zone 305 is light on the ears and wallet, maybe a bit too light on quality?

Although I can't abide it for its intended purpose (listening to music while running), the bone conduction headset I bought a while back is the best way I've tried for holding any given remote conversation.

No, really, please ban Chinese DJI drones from America's skies, senators are urged

Re: Drone enthusiasts...

I disagree with your assessment on the basis that a bump stock is not needed to perform a similar operation and that your definition would mean all semi automatic firearms would be defined as machine guns. In the case of the law examined by SCOTUS, it came down to the fact that said law describes 'multiple shots with one single function of the trigger' (not a direct quote) as a key feature of a 'machine gun'. This doesn't apply to a bump stock because its entire function is to use the recoil to actuate the trigger against the finger.

Similarly, it's quite legal to add a (silly looking) crank trigger but as soon as that crank is turned by a source of power other than the user, it becomes illegal.

I'd also add that one of the Justices who voted in favour of the decision voiced support for a ban but correctly pointed out that it was the job of Congress to legislate appropriately.

Re: Drone enthusiasts...

As I said, please read the judgment. The part of the law that was used to justify the ban was directed against machine guns, which a bump stock clearly is not, nor does it turn a semi automatic firearm into a machine gun. If this is confusing, I recommend looking up how firearms work.

I have no interest in nor intention to argue the rights and wrongs of bump stock ownership. I am only discussing the way Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances work in the United States. A law need not be excessively complex, one could simply define 'devices which increase the firing rate beyond that obtainable through conventional trigger operation' as prohibited items and thwart future ingenuity. Lawmakers had years to make these changes and, instead, they sat on their arses with fingers crossed that SCOTUS wouldn't do their jobs.

Justifying transgressions as responses to emergencies invites tyranny and if lawmakers cannot pass effective, well written laws then perhaps they aren't the best people for those jobs. Emergency powers acts are written for this precise purpose and having what politicians and agencies can and cannot do in response to emergencies allows for consent of the citizenship to be obtained prior to emergencies through acceptance or objections to these powers.

Re: Drone enthusiasts...

I would suggest reading the specific judgement. SCOTUS didn't rule that it was cool for Americans to own bump stocks, they ruled that the currently enacted laws don't prohibit them.

Broadening the scope of existing laws through loose application of the wording bypasses Checks and Balances and the onus is upon the legislative branch to rewrite and pass an updated law that is either constitutional or is passed after an appropriate amendment.

Microsoft 365 remains 'degraded' as Azure outage resolved

Re: So, Office 345 is down again

Depends how you define 'customers', I'm thinking the return is early pub'o'clock.

Police allege 'evil twin' of in-flight Wi-Fi used to steal passenger's credentials

Re: Eh?

I think this is one of those cases where a good VPN actually lives up to the benefits touted by VPN providers. The annoying bit is that free WiFi often blocks VPNs, especially if they're trying to upsell you access to certain parts of the Internet.

MIT's bionic leg upgrade leaves amputees walking like the wind

Re: Seems a lot more practical and vastly less invasive than Musk's Neuralink offering

I would say so. Neuralink does not, as far as I'm aware, feed information back in in its current iteration and this system, while providing proprioception (great for more natural walking) would not be applicable to a paraplegic individual.

Both offer the potential of massive quality of life improvements without detracting from the other.

'Skeleton Key' attack unlocks the worst of AI, says Microsoft

Re: Fundamental flaw

At the same time, with coaxing, a child that had previously learned to swear is likely to swear again.

Elon Musk to destroy the International Space Station – with NASA's approval, for a fee

Re: "n deemed unfit to fly"

Would you want to fly in a Boeing craft without a way to deal with a terror-induced bowel movement?

As expected, Apple set to vanish Batterygate, dodgy audio lawsuits with money

It's a bit weird that you're so eager to comment if you're unaware of the timelines but you can brush up here:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/11208/batterygate-timeline

I would say that saying it only affects a 'very small number', then releasing a software patch with no mention of the performance hit before finally admitting to having degraded performance almost a year later, when test results become undeniable, is a lie of omission.

The only way thermal throttling would be an apt comparison is if something happened along the lines of a manufacturer discovering a bad batch of thermal paste was used on a GPU, then issuing a hotfix that throttles the power further rather than admitting to the fault and offering replacements before their arm is twisted. Perhaps the underlying mechanism is similar but that's like saying the VW emissions scandal is okay because all modern IC cars manage their emissions through the ECU; it obfuscates the cause for criticism.

Yes, I'm well aware. The difference is that this was rolled out well after the device launch and installed without disclosure, likely because Apple didn't do effective validation of their device's operation after battery degradation (easily simulated). Worse, when caught, they basically lied.

The thermal throttling comparison makes no sense because that performs the same as at launch and is a demonstration of good manufacture diligence. Perhaps a better equivalent would be Spectre. In that instance, it was made clear that the fix would slow the affected processors, like all good manufacturers should do with updates.

It was a reasonable technical fix for a design flaw. The issue is that end users weren't made aware of it and were even gaslit by Apple tech support, though this may have been inadvertent due to non-communication to technicians. If the performance of a device is deliberately degraded, even if said degradation is necessary, the customer should be made aware.

If I'm missing something, I suppose I fall into the category of a complete moron so I'd really appreciate you pointing it out.

Supreme Court won't stop Biden leaning on social media giants to tackle disinfo

Re: Dissent is not the same as lies

*Biden family parody account

Re: Dissent is not the same as lies

Just for the sake of clarity, I would point out that the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story was the FBI, who claimed that the story was made up by the Russians (though presented no evidence as it was a request, not a legal order). It was the later shutting down of a Biden family account which was done at the behest of the current administration.

Re: Misinformation == non state sanctioned propaganda /s

That's not the case, part of the original lawsuit is posts relating to the Hunter Biden laptop 'story' and claims about changes to laws surrounding postal voting. These may have still been untrue (in part or wholly) but I personally cannot see how they are health-related.

Moreover, the same individual (Rob Flaherty) who was using priority channels to Twitter to fight C-19 misinformation used those same channels to request the takedown of a parody account for a member of the Biden family. This is all in the original lawsuit, if you have a read through the original district court motion.

In my view, this is not a good look because it seems to be very harmful to attempts to fight health-related misinformation if those same tools are used politically.

Re: Dissent is not the same as lies

If those restrictions have been breached then it seems like it would be the job of the judicial, not the legislative or executive branches to take care of it (separation of powers). In the event, it does not appear that this speech is criminal, merely harmful; certainly, it has not found to be criminal by any court.

I believe it is a broadly valid concern given that, while laws and court judgements are public record, quiet chats are not. Perhaps the best way forwards would be for the precise contents of these quiet chats to be retained for future scrutiny, in the same fashion as PRA 1978.

China's Chang'e-6 capsule returns with lunar loot from the far side

Re: @frankvw - Great stuff. Too bad it's the Chinese.

Like for example the stealth plane technology they "received" from the German scientists.

Not to disagree with your wider points but, if you refer to the Horten, that's just a shaky anecdote from the designer that he 'totally would have made it stealth with charcoal paint'. It's further undermined by him making the claim after public revelations about US stealth technology. Further still, when the design he claimed he'd planned was tested, it was found to be ineffective against even primitive WWII radars.

Additionally, for the B-2, there's a clear lineage from Jack Northrop's YB-35, which entered development a full two years ahead of Horten.

Re: Other than having more meteorite debris

There's interesting features about the far side that suggest the Moon may have formed in stages, such as its thicker crust. Also, the almost absent mare (which is unlikely to be purely due to impacts) indicates potential differences in lunar tectonics post-formation.

UK and US cops band together to tackle Qilin's ransomware shakedowns

Re: The title is no longer required.

You do you, I just hope we don't live in the same area.

Re: The title is no longer required.

It's a tad short-sighted to 'like' it, since that puts more money in the hands of the criminals to further their criminal enterprises. It's somewhat akin to 'liking' a drunk driver who hits a sexual predator; you don't hand them another bottle of gin and praise their extrajudicial actions.

China and the EU agree to consultations over EV anti-subsidy investigation

Re: > ever more people becoming unable to afford transportation

I wouldn't discount them just not caring about the impact, on the basis that they can easily suck enough out of the system to retire comfortably by then. The danger of passive neglect, however, is that it opens the door for populists.

Re: Idiots

I could understand that approach with a great many products but, given that they've put moratoriums on IC vehicle engines, it seems to massively undermine their purported intent if they throw financial obstacles in the way of getting more people into EVs.

Fume spewing old bangers staying on the roads or ever more people becoming unable to afford transportation are both terrible outcomes.

NASA finds humanity would totally fumble asteroid defense

Re: COVID-19 Demonstrated Our Doom

'Abject' seems pretty strong to me. Mistakes were made, people did shitty things but we got multiple safe, effective vaccines to the masses at a speed never before seen and conducted testing (most notably rapid whole-genome sequencing) on a scale that would have been science fiction just a decade prior.

Re: Blind optimism at it's worst.

I think Don't Look Up is an appealing fantasy for those with a certain mindset but I also don't think it overall tracks with reality as far as an asteroid approaching the Earth.

Look at how much was spent during the Cold War on both the Space Race and, dwarfing that, weapons systems. If anything, every two-bit populist despot with a space capability would be tripping over the rest to be the one to save the Earth and gain eternal credibility. Unlike climate change, it's a very appealing target because it offers the opportunity to hold a thumb up to the camera and declare 'mission accomplished'; plus spending public money is far easier than imposing rules upon the public.

The issues raised by the exercise weren't ones of apathy but, rather, poor coordination.

Satellite phone service could soon become the norm

Kessler syndrome isn't a pressing issue at the sort of altitudes used by Starlink et al.. Remember, they need active thrust just to stay in orbit; smash them up and the drag is suddenly hugely magnified and orbital mechanics/conservation of momentum means that nothing will be flung up to a higher circular orbit (at most, a portion of the debris will gain a higher apoapsis, with Oberth rapidly curtailing this). Think of it like a bag of densely packed feathers vs. all those individual feathers flying through the air separately.

World's top AI chatbots have no problem parroting Russian disinformation

Unless the paywalled paper is citing other sources, it seems a bit damning for the contributors to denounce that conclusion. Further, though the data on vaccinated vs unvaccinated isn't public, we can look at excess deaths between countries and, if vaccines were a significant contributor, would expect to see higher excess death rates in countries with higher vaccination rates. Sure, it's worth looking at long term but the data doesn't seem to point to vaccines at all.

I was referring to the quack Andrew Wakefield.

For a vaccination to have an effect on a virus the virus has to be "caught" and in your body, replicating before your vaccine boosted immune system can react to it.

That's certainly one way the adaptive immune system can respond to a virus (antigen presentation) but the other way is through direct antibody action upon the virus particles (neutralising antibodies). This is where some of the bad science came from for the Covid vaccines, suggestions that a falling antibody titre was necessarily indicative of a loss of immunity.

I was aware that there was a general global trend of remaining excess deaths but these don't align with vaccination rates:

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/study-does-not-say-covid-vaccines-may-have-fuelled-excess-deaths-2024-06-13/

That's a tangent WRT moron in a hurry. Could you please be more specific about these supposed excess deaths and the alleged refusals to investigate?

Ah, like the Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2006)

https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198529170.001.0001/acref-9780198529170-e-20458

any preparation of immunogenic material suitable for the stimulation of active immunity in animals without inducing disease

I'm not interested in a discussion about what you consider to be or not to be a valid level of efficacy or precisely how effective the range of vaccines used were. I'm purely interested in discussing definitions in this context, not policy.

In any case, they were used in a way that, in my view, meets the defining function of a vaccine, even if past explanatory sections to definitions from some groups are insufficiently broad.

It depends on the vaccine but some of the live viral vaccines do the same thing: they use human replication-incompetent strains which cause antigen presentation on the hijacked cell, utilising exactly the same protein synthesis pathways as the mRNA vaccines.

I think it's quite reasonable to label the way you're talking about it as misinfo. It's highlighting concepts that are somewhat true in isolation and putting them together in a way that is, in my view, alarmist. Just as a certain doctor pointed out, quite factually, that one can find dead children with developmental disorders who had a vaccine quite recently. The issue comes from the implication that this means there is a causative link, which is why I think it's quite reasonable to employ a moron in a hurry test.

Ah, you mean how the CDC explanation (not definition) for vaccines previously was 'killed or weakened infectious organism'? That a would be because mRNA vaccines hadn't been used successfully at a large scale before.

Similarly, in the early 19th Century, one might have written an explanation of an automobile as being powered by steam and a pedant in the 1830s might have argued that one powered by electricity or internal combustion is not an automobile and claimed that, while steam carts are harmless, these newfangled things are uniquely, intolerably and insolubly dangerous

I would say that while, within the broadest technical definition, mRNA vaccines are gene therapy, any attenuated viral vaccine also meets that definition too. It's definitely also a vaccine and, if you dispute this definition, it suggests you really don't understand how it works.