2021-03-09

Cool

• Reverse-engineering the standard-cell logic inside a vintage IBM chip

• Meteor explodes over Vermont with the force of 440 pounds of TNT

• Resilience and livestock adaptations to demographic growth and technological change: A diachronic perspective from the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity in NE Iberia

  + the bones of domestic cattle reflect the economic fortunes since
    Rome
  

• Can You Ever Be Too Smart for Your Own Good? Comparing Linear and Nonlinear Effects of Cognitive Ability on Life Outcomes - Matt I. Brown, Jonathan Wai, Christopher F. Chabris, 2021

  We found no support for any downside to higher ability and no evidence for a threshold beyond which greater scores cease to be beneficial. Thus, greater cognitive ability is generally advantageous—and virtually never detrimental.

Worthy

• Author of Lotus 1-2-3; Mitch Kapor's programmer, 2004: Oral History Interview with Jonathan Sachs

  Every time you scroll you're repainting the entire screen, and any inefficiency in that area would really be very noticeable in the performance. The IBM PC had a very elegant text display and it had very high quality characters: green on black, and it had a very efficient interface that mapped the screen into memory. If you wrote directly into the memory buffer for the screen, it would take microseconds to update an individual character. So basically Lotus 1-2-3 wrote right into the screen buffer when it needed to update the screen. Most of the other functions: the file I/O, using the keyboard, and so on, all used standard BIOS calls, but for screen I/O we definitely bypassed the BIOS

  • see also: Widescreen Lotus 1-2-3

• The Roblox Microverse – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

• I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story - The Save Journalism Committee

etc

• 2 giraffes found dead after barn blaze at Virginia zoo

• Meteorite that fell on UK driveway may contain 'ingredients for life'

• No, RSA Is Not Broken

• Mars on Earth: Turkish lake may hold clues to ancient life on planet

• Homeworking Sounds Good Until Your Job Takes over Your Life

• Arkansas bans nearly all abortions in sweeping measure

Horseshit

• Samuel Paty: French schoolgirl admits lying about murdered teacher - BBC News

  Samuel Paty was beheaded in October after showing students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The girl, whose complaints sparked an online campaign against Paty, has now admitted that she was not in the class.

• Banksy art burned, destroyed and sold as token in 'money-making stunt'

• Workhorse Didn't Get the USPS Mail Truck and Now It's Being Sued

• Arecibo Observatory cleanup costs estimated from $30bn

Media / Ministry of Truthy

• Here's a very telling look into the anti-American statist mindset, courtesy of CNN, along with a brief corrective delivered via flamethrower | Not the Bee

• The Self-Silencing Majority

• The Internet doesn't have to be awful

  Our democratic habits have been killed off by an internet kleptocracy that profits from disinformation, polarization, and rage. Here’s how to fix that.

  Perhaps the most apt historical model for algorithmic regulation is not trust-busting, but environmental protection. To improve the ecology around a river, it isn’t enough to simply regulate companies’ pollution. Nor will it help to just break up the polluting companies. You need to think about how the river is used by citizens—what sort of residential buildings are constructed along the banks, what is transported up and down the river—and the fish that swim in the water. Fishermen, yachtsmen, ecologists, property developers, and area residents all need a say. Apply that metaphor to the online world: Politicians, citizen-scientists, activists, and ordinary people will all have to work together to co-govern a technology whose impact is dependent on everyone’s behavior, and that will be as integral to our lives and our economies as rivers once were to the emergence of early civilizations.

• Maker of Dove Soap Will Drop the Word ‘Normal’ From Beauty Products

• Instagram led users to Covid misinformation amid pandemic

• New Teen Vogue editor apologizes for offensive tweets

Identity Politics / Race Baiting

• why astrology will become a dominant belief system — type studies

• The Miseducation of America's Elites - Common Sense with Bari Weiss

  One day at home, in the midst of the application process, she was drawing with her daughter, who said offhandedly: “I need to draw in my own skin color.” Skin color, she told her mother, is “really important.” She said that’s what she learned in school.

• Justice for Derek Chauvin - The Spectator - news, politics, life & arts

  the trial of Derek Chauvin, which would be difficult to conduct fairly any place in the country, will be little more than left-wing theater in Minneapolis. It ought to be moved far away. Even then, should he be acquitted, look for an explosion of violence in Minneapolis and possibly around the country. What the mob wants is not justice but ‘social justice,’ which in this case means racial redress. Derek Chauvin, alas, is likely to be the scapegoat in this despicable farce.

• ReidOut Guest: GOP Is 'Cocktail' of 'Fascism' and 'White Supremacy' | Newsbusters

• Breonna Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker cleared of shooting police ...

  • Judge ends shooting case against Breonna Taylor's boyfriend

• Committee finds 'no racist intent' behind Texas school spirit song

• Burger King's 'women belong in the kitchen' tweet gets backlash

• The Murder Chicago Didn’t Want to Solve — ProPublica

• 2014 Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race - Reni Eddo-Lodge

• The idea that Meghan, as the Duchess of Sussex, is the first person of colour to become a member of the Royal Family is actually a bit misleading

• Women dominated beer brewing until they were accused of being witches

  The most salient citation in the whole article, with the text "accused female brewers of being witches", points to bigthink article . This article makes absolutely no reference to female brewers being accused of being witches.

  Now, I find it plausible and even fairly likely that campaigns against witchcraft also resulted in women being forced out of beer production (to say nothing of the deaths of many women whose sole crime was their independence), but this isn't about that for me. It's lazy at best or dishonest at worst to imply that a source backs up a core statement of your article when it does not.

TechSuck

• LinkedIn pauses member sign-ups in China while it works to ensure compliance

• Facebook Reality Labs: The Next Era of Human-Computer Interaction

• Microsoft-led team retracts quantum 'breakthrough'

• Gab has been hacked again

• Epic Acquires Reality Capture for Photogrammetry

• Roku to Acquire Nielsen’s Addressable TV Advertising Business

• Smart speakers can detect abnormal heart rhythms, researchers find

• Zoom Founder Transfers $6BN Stake Comprising 40% Of His Net Worth | ZeroHedge

• Microsoft closes $7.5 billion Bethesda acquisition, aiming to take on Sony with exclusive games

Economicon

• Hertz, the original meme stock, is turning out to be worthless

  • comments:

  meanwhile GME is back to 200+

  ... and nary a headline. But we do get cautionary tales like the above. Sometimes I get the nagging feeling that the wallstreetbets conspiracy crowd might be on to something.

  • Matt Levine take on Hertz

    Really I can’t decide how to feel about this. On first principles, you should not sell a billion dollars of stock in a bankrupt company to small retail investors who just installed Robinhood on their phones a few months ago. On the other hand, people are definitely doing that anyway [emphasis original]; a notable feature of this weird pandemic market is exactly that hundreds of millions of dollars of stock in Hertz, which is bankrupt, are being sold to small retail investors every day. Hertz just wants permission to do some of that selling itself.

• Tesla rebounds, on track for best day in a year

• Jack Dorsey's first tweet is on track to sell for $2.5 million and he'll donate the money to charity

• The Whales of NBA Top Shot Made a Fortune Buying LeBron Highlights

• Greensill Capital Tumbles into Insolvency, Spreading Financial Pain

• What Happens When Investment Firms Acquire Trailer Parks

Poilitcks

• US Preparing Cyberattack Against Russia Over SolarWinds Hack: Report | ZeroHedge

  Anonymous US officials told the Times that the first "major move" is expected to happen over the next three weeks. It will consist of a "series of clandestine actions across Russian networks that are intended to be evident to President Vladimir Putin and his intelligence services and military but not to the wider world."

• Officers Danced at a Black Lives Matter Rally. Then They Stormed the Capitol

• The Presence of National Guard Troops at the U.S. Capitol – PJ Media

• 'Weekend At Biden's?' Handlers Shut Down Yet Another Q&A After Public Appearance | ZeroHedge

• 9 Signs That Chess Pieces Are Being Moved Into Place For A Major War In The Middle East

• Biden nominates two female generals to 4-star commands after promotions ...

• Biden’s Dogs Leave White House After 'Aggressive Incident'

• RNC Won't Use Trump's Name to Raise Money Without His OK

• Lincoln Project Exposed: Founders Made Millions In "Most Obvious & Glaring Fraud In Modern History"

  "I’m writing regarding a pattern of concerning behavior by Weaver that has been brought to my attention by multiple people," begins a June email. "In addition to being morally and potentially legally wrong, I believe what I’m going to outline poses an immediate threat to the reputation of the organization, and is potentially fatal to our public image."

• Is Eric Swalwell The Answer To Trump’s Prayers? – JONATHAN TURLEY

• Biden Aide: Coronavirus Pandemic 'Best Thing That Ever Happened' for Democrats

• Democrats To Push Extremist Gun Control Bills Today Without Even A Debate

World

• Witness says Equatorial Guinea blast devastation is like aftermath of ...

  • Death Toll Soars to 98 From Equatorial Guinea Explosions

• Myanmar party official dies in custody amid torture allegations

• Russia turns away from NASA, says it will work with China on a Moon base

• Cracking of encrypted messaging service dealt major blow to organised crime

  • Emails Show Shadow Structure Behind Encrypted Phone Network Encrochat

• New report finds clear and convincing evidence that China is committing genocide

• France selects first oaks to rebuild Notre Dame

• France to speed up declassification of secret archives on Algeria War

Health / Medicine / COVID

• n = 42 Comparison of Postsurgical Scars Between Vegan and Omnivore Patients - PubMed

  Results: Vegans showed a significantly lower mean serum iron level (p < .001) and vitamin B12 (p < .001). Wound diastasis was more frequent in vegans (p = .008). After 6 months, vegan patients had a higher modified SCAR score than omnivores (p < .001), showing the worst scar spread (p < .001), more frequent atrophic scars (p < .001), and worse overall impression (p < .001).

  Conclusion: This study suggests that a vegan diet may negatively influence the outcome of surgical scars.

• CDC researchers: CDC misinterpreted our research on opening schools

• Stanford Dr Calls Lockdowns the 'Biggest Public Health Mistake We've Ever Made'

• A restaurant critic trained herself to smell again after Covid-19

• Rural Alaska is getting Covid-19 vaccinations right

• Study Finds Obesity Raises Risk of Covid-19 Hospitalization and Death

• After Border Patrol release, asylum-seekers test positive for Covid in Brownsville, Texas

• The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers

• Vitamin D supplements may offer no Covid benefits, data suggests

• Study finds 44 animal species susceptible to Covid-19

  In summary, we systematically assessed the functionality of ACE2 orthologs from 48 mammalian hosts using the authentic SARS-CoV-2 virus, which provides insight into the potential host range and cross-species transmission of this virus. It also suggests that SARS-CoV-2 might be much more widely distributed than previously thought, underscoring the necessity of monitoring susceptible hosts, especially their potential for causing zoonosis to prevent future outbreaks.

Climate / Green Propaganda

• Why Japan Is Holding Back as the World Rushes Toward Electric Cars

• US Sues Diesel Truck Tuner EZ Lynk over Emissions Defeat Devices

  Court papers say that EZ Lynk, which is based in the Cayman Islands, "actively encourages" its customers to use these devices as emissions defeaters. It points to online forums set up by EZ Lynk in which owners discuss their tuners and company employees offer technical support.

• Republicans' new favorite study trashes Biden's climate plans – who's behind it?

• Fans using more energy than lights? "Gasoline sinks" level of of reality disconnect. If You Use Cannabis, Here's What You Need to Know About Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions

  The lights used to grow weed indoors use a lot of electricity, but facilities require a lot of energy to maintain a comfortable environment for the plants. Producers also pump carbon dioxide inside to increase plant growth. This accounts for 11 to 25 percent of facilities' greenhouse gas emissions.

  But the biggest energy use comes from the need to constantly bring fresh air into growing facilities.

  • As a crop, cannabis has enormous carbon emissions

• Sand: The world is running out of a crucial – but under-appreciated commodity

• Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions

Obit

• Roger Mudd, longtime network TV newsman, dies at 93

  Roger Mudd, the longtime political correspondent and anchor for NBC and CBS who once stumped Sen. Edward Kennedy by simply asking why he wanted to be president, has died. He was 93.

• Arianna Rosenbluth Dies at 93; Pioneering Figure in Data Science

• ‘Great Man of Wine’ Steven Spurrier Dies at Home