The Industrial Revolution in Reverse, and Other Discontents. Tuesday Trash Day

Well, it’s Tuesday again. Trash day. It’s usually a joyous occasion at our house. You put your bag of trash on the curb, and wait for the magic trash fairies to come and whisk it away later in the morning.

By the way, I can’t recommend calling the two fellows hanging off the back of the trash truck “magic trash fairies.” I think their electronic anklets make them cranky.

On to the Tuesday Trash Day roundup! You can call me the internet trash fairy if you want.

Hackers Exploited a PC Driving Sim to Pull Off Massive Disney Data Breach

The hackers behind the event are self-described furry hacktivist collective Nullbulge, which is apparently some kind of pornographic term. According to PCGamer, Nullbulge published a mod for BeamNG that contained a Trojan, or a kind of malware that allowed Nullbulge to remotely access computers it was activated on. One of the people to unwittingly install it was a Disney software development manager, who also had the company’s Slack channels active on the same computer.

This is what happens when you run a company with mickey mouse security.

Running One-man SaaS, 9 Years In

At least for the time being I’m not looking to expand the team. A large part of why I’m a “solopreneur” is because I do not want to manage or be managed. A cofounder or employee would mean regular meetings to discuss what’s done, and what’s to be done. It would be awesome to find someone who just magically does great work without needing any attention. Just brief monthly summaries of high-quality contributions, better than I could have done. But I don’t think I can find someone like that, and I also don’t think I could afford them.

His business grosses $14,000 a month, and it’s run on his own servers. It’s kinda funny how internet kiddies invent words for things that already exist, and think they discovered them. In my day, we’d wear an onion on our belt and a “solopreneur” was just “self-employed,” and that’s the way we liked it.

What could a future sovereign Mars economy look like?

These five conditions outlined in Sovereign Mars include all permanent settlers on Mars completely acquiescing Earth citizenship and interests; Earthlings being unable to interfere with the Mars affairs, including financial, political, and social aspects; Earthlings requiring permission from Mars to conduct scientific investigations on the Red Planet; only Mars citizens can own land; and all resources brought from Earth, including technological or other items, will remain on Mars permanently.

Sounds great. Now substitute “United States” for Mars, and “foreigners” for earthlings, and rewrite the paragraph.

Over 900 Artifacts Recovered From Ming Dynasty Shipwreck

They lie under nearly 5,000 feet of water. In 2023, a group of researchers from different institutions set about surveying and collecting artifacts from the wrecks, work which has been ongoing over the months. Submersibles were lowered to explore the wrecks and retrieve items, while cameras and laser technology were used to photograph and 3D-map the wrecks.

They spent millions to loot an underwater Crate & Barrel.

Cocaine found in muscle and liver of sharpnose sharks off coast of Rio de Janeiro

The researchers purchased 13 of the sharks from local fishermen. Each was dissected in the lab, where the team also collected muscle and liver samples and assessed them with tandem mass spectrometry. They found cocaine in all the samples at concentrations approximately 100 times higher than observed in any other marine animal.

The sharks were also partially deaf from listening to electronic music at high volumes.

Brain-Invading Parasite Could Be Hacked to Deliver Meds in Your Head

A parasite that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier to infect the brains of its hosts could one day be a means of delivering important therapeutics.

Toxoplasma gondii – a parasite that thrives in nearly all warm-blooded life on Earth – could be engineered to deliver therapeutic proteins to cells in the brain, providing treatment options for conditions that are difficult to access.

Hmm. I’m no doctor, but I can think of about four hundred reasons that this is a bad idea. Oh well. I believe toxoplasma gondii causes toxoplasmosis, a disease you get from cat feces. The article doesn’t mention it, but they could save a lot of research money by simply giving box wine to Covid Karens and measuring how many CNN news notes spill out of their brains.

Was early modern writing paper expensive?

To put this in perspective, the average laborer making 6-12 pence a day could purchase up to 75 sheets of paper with a day’s wages. Put another way, if we accept D.C. Coleman’s estimate that the average annual consumption of white paper per head in England in 1600 was 6 sheets (p. 15), that’s a penny per year spent on paper. These numbers are all slightly wobbly, of course, but they suggest that regular writing paper was not an expensive consumable for laborers or aristocrats.

Modern office workers still  spend about a penny a year on paper. They steal the rest from their office.

Why did the U.S. miss the battery revolution?

The failure of both American media and the American government to anticipate the battery revolution is actually a huge historical outlier. When it comes to any other major technological revolution I can think of, the U.S. was very early to the party — driving the key research and development, hyping up the technology well before it was commercially viable, and making a major effort at early commercialization.

The headline is a textbook example of petitio principii. That’s “begging the question” in its correct, original meaning. The author assumes the question is already answered and goes from there. Who says the US missed the battery revolution? The US is too busy missing the Industrial Revolution in reverse to worry about missing anything else.

Well, that’s it for internet trash day. I hope the trash fairies visit you today, and brighten your curb.

Impromptu Unorganized Hancock Reunion

Well, Dudley Dowrong and James Stroumbas were performing at the Wook Nook in Norway last night. That’s Norway, Maine, folks. There’s only so far we’ll travel to see a show. The Wook Nook is a delightful little place. Here’s how local radio station Q 97.9 touts it:

Attention Maine Hippies: This Eclectic Maine Bar is a Must-Visit

It’s telling that “hippies” now refers to young persons, not geriatrics with Deadhead stickers on their Cadillacs. The Wook Nook is lots of fun. The menu is limited, but the food is swell, and the booze selection ranged from New Zealand dark pilsners to PBRs over to drinks with umbrellas in them.

Here’s the band on display:

Devotees of this blog may recognize Dudley Dowrong. That’s him on the right, with Smith Brother James Stroumbas on the drums. They were playing honky tonk songs and making assorted other charming noises. I was getting myself outside of a beer over by the bar.

Then disaster struck. James injured his hand, and couldn’t continue without giving a generous blood donation to the snare drum. Curses, almost foiled again! Luckily, DOD (dear old dad) brought a spare drummer longtime readers might also recognize. He’s been stretched on life’s rack quite a bit, so he’s taller than you may remember him, but he still remembers how to beat the skins. He sat in for the last half of the show or so, and for a brief, shining moment, Unorganized Hancock rode again!

The Wook Nook

Tuesday Internet Floor Sweepings

When in doubt, sweep the floor.

It’s a great piece of advice. I’m not sure where I first heard it. Upon reflection, I’m not sure I ever heard it. I tried searching on Gargle, and the only reference to the quote is me, written way back when. At any rate, it’s sound advice.

It doesn’t refer to keeping busy. I understand English pretty well, and it doesn’t say, “When idle, find some busy work.” It’s a physical operation that clears the mind somewhat, and allows your mind to work in the background. Doubt comes from choices, and the part of your brain that sorts such things works way in the back, quietly, without being asked. You know, like a mother or a burglar.

I am in doubt about what to write about, so I’m sweeping the internet floor.

Copying Is the Way Design Works

In a 2005 forum post, John Carmack explained his thoughts on patents. While patents are framed as protecting inventors, he wrote, that’s seldom how they’re used. Smart programmers working on hard problems tend to come up with the same solutions. If any one of those programmers patents their solution, the rest are screwed.

It’s a rambling discourse on design work. The author loves Eames chairs (sorry, they’re butt busters), Steve Jobs (a colossal a-hole), and assorted other things I don’t care for. His premise is correct, however, and his title is right on the money.

Wiz walks away from $23 billion deal with Google, will pursue IPO

The deal would have nearly doubled the $12 billion valuation of the startup from its most recent round of funding. Wiz was founded in 2020 and has grown rapidly under Rappaport, who had been targeting an IPO as recently as May. The company hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue after 18 months, and reached $350 million last year.

I’d never heard of this company. It’s basically an antivirus software maker. You know, like Crowdstroke. The CEO is being interviewed on CNBC wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Good luck with all that.

No More Blue Fridays

In the future, computers will not crash due to bad software updates, even those updates that involve kernel code. In the future, these updates will push eBPF code.

Friday July 19th provided an unprecedented example of the inherent dangers of kernel programming, and has been called the largest outage in the history of information technology. Windows computers around the world encountered blue-screens-of-death and boot loops, causing outages for hospitals, airlines, banks, grocery stores, media broadcasters, and more. This was caused by a config update by a security company for their widely used product that included a kernel driver on Windows systems. The update caused the kernel driver to try to read invalid memory, an error type that will crash the kernel.

To simplify, Crowdstroke crashed the internet because it alters the kernel, the part of your computer that runs the CPU, Memory, and whatever devices you have hooked up. Crash the kernel with software written by people who think hoodies are business suits and can’t spell “lose” to save their souls, and the boxes won’t run. Using eBPF avoids altering the kernel.

Scientists Discover a New Hormone that Can Build Strong Bones

When strategies to increase circulating CCN3 were implemented in young adult and older female or male mice, their bone mass and strength increased dramatically over the course of weeks. In some female mice who lacked all estrogen or were very old, CCN3 was able to more than double bone mass.

It’s an interesting finding, but I’m not personally interested. Doubling my bone mass would just make my head even thicker.

United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores Nuclear Transparency

FAS has previously requested that the United States release the size of the US nuclear arsenal for FY2021, FY2022, and FY2023, but those requests were denied. FAS believes the information was wrongly withheld and that today’s declassification decision vindicates our belief that stockpile disclosures do not negatively affect U.S. security but should be provided to the public.

Ah, brinksmanship. Sucker punch people, and then say, “Never mind, let’s be nice!” I wonder what might have changed in the last three years to make them change their minds. Actually, no I don’t.

How fast can a human possibly run 100 meters?

An:

ideal start (0.10 seconds),
constant acceleration to top speed (2.56 s),
and sustaining a 17.9 m/s speed for the race’s remainder (4.31 s),

would yield a time of 6.97 seconds.

Hmm. Usain Bolt ran it in 9.58 seconds, and no one has been able to touch it since. But the article says there’s nearly three seconds of work left to do, fellows, before your legs break from the strain. Me? I haven’t given a fig since they got rid of the hundred yard dash.

Repeated caffeine intake suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction in an A1 adenosine receptor-dependent manner: a double-blind randomized controlled study with PET-MRI

Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance1. Given its efficacy in improving alertness2 and alleviating cognitive impairments caused by sleep deprivation3 or sleep restriction, it is often consumed to combat drowsiness. On the cerebral level, both acute sleep loss and daily caffeine intake can lead to a decrease in human grey matter (GM) volumes as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Well, if that’s the case, my brain must be walnut sized by now. Maybe increasing my bone density can fill in the voids.

Boeing-owned Wisk expects to begin carrying passengers ‘later in the decade’

But the industry faces technological hurdles such as making batteries powerful enough for companies to make more trips on a single charge. They also need to convince regulators and the public that the aircraft are safe, a barrier that is higher when the aircraft is autonomous.

In my lifetime, commercial pilots have mostly been ex-military. Guys that could fly a B-17 through flak probably thought delivering passengers to Poughkeepsie was a dawdle. They were replaced by guys who flew in Korea, then Vietnam, and then all the various desert dustups we favored recently. Now your pilot is going to be some software written by guys who think a hoodie is a business suit, and can’t spell. Good luck with all that. And remember to look both ways before crossing a Manhattan street, and up, too.

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

Results from two experiments indicate that even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention—as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones—the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity. Moreover, these cognitive costs are highest for those highest in smartphone dependence.

I’ve been to the Walmart recently. It’s not possible to reduce everyone’s cognitive capacity any further, so I wouldn’t worry about this study.

Can Engineers Stage a Coup and Take Over Their Company?

Why does our boss hold so much power over us when we are the ones who make everything possible? It seems absurd. We’re the ones who turned their dreams into reality, making them billionaires. If the product brings in billions, why are only a handful of people rolling in wealth? Why don’t we get a similar reward?

What if we decided to take matters into our own hands? What if we overthrow the boss and take control of the product ourselves? If we have the brains to create these groundbreaking products, we certainly can manage them too.

A man, no doubt writing while wearing a hoodie in the summer, thinks he has discovered trade unionism. He must have a smartphone nearby.

Well, there you go, folks. Feel free to make fun of me or the internet’s floor sweepings in the comments.

Go With God and Waffles

I know why the Rolling Stones named themselves the Rolling Stones. I know why the Beatles called themselves the Beatles. But I have no idea why the most popular musical act in the history of Belgium named themselves Go With God in Spanish. I don’t know why Danielle Schoovaerts is wearing a dress adorned with the pull tabs from beer cans. I don’t know why a band from Brussels is singing in English. I don’t know how big a hole Dani’s hairspray put in the ozone layer, but I’ll bet it’s big. But at any rate, I’ll take gypsy jazz, no matter how much you fold, spindle, or mutilate it, wherever I can find it.

They’re Going To Put Me in the Movies

Oh man, that’s so 1966. Buck Owens and The Buckaroos. They’re a-pickin’ and a-grinnin’, of course, because Country music was lots of fun back then. Even the sad songs were wry and amusing.

The Beatles liked Act Naturally, and Buck Owens in general. They recorded it and put it on the B side of Yesterday, of all places. A charming throwaway, made more charming by Ringo’s amiable stab at the vocals.

Buck Owens and Don Rich are wearing glorious Nudie suits, of course. Nudie Cohn had a shop in North Hollywood by that time, called Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors. I think Elvis really got the fad of Nudie’s spangled outfits going, but it stuck hard with nearly everyone in Country, and beyond. Let’s face it: Today’s fad of dressing more slovenly than the audience is a disservice to the groundlings. Performers should give the audience a compelling reason to look at them, and to signal that the stage is different than the seats. Nudie suits certainly did that.

It didn’t really register with the audience at the time, but Elton John was a devotee. He wore a Nudie suit around the time of Rocket Man, for instance:


You could infer that Nudie suits were a gateway drug to a full Liberace addiction, but then again, Country singers could always hold their liquor and their rhinestones better than your average pop star.

Plenty of Firepower

That’s Rocky Gresset on the left, and Adrian Moignard on the right. They have a sort of friendly contest ongoing to see who can blast out Gypsy Jazz faster and more musically than the other. It’s always a tie, though they each have their own style.

“Cherokee” is a jazz standard from way back in the 1930s, by Ray Noble. It blasts through a series of different keys, and the third of four parts of the tune were considered too challenging by many soloists, so the song was often avoided, except by guys who could really play. Like these guys.

Great Moments in Maine Real Estate: Nueve

Well, Maine has really been letting me down of late. It’s getting harder and harder to populate Great Moments in Maine Real Estate, because many of the free spirits in the state, with the appropriate “devil may care” attitude, have lit out for greener pastures, or maybe gone back to prison. I don’t know exactly why they would prefer to live in a pasture than a house in Maine, but I have my suspicions. Here are just a few clues to the mindset:

For a rural Maine man, this place has it all. Mildew blooms, plastic over the busted windows, an ad-hoc fence to keep the dog amused, if not corralled. An electric heater abandoned right next to an abandoned air conditioner on top of a meager woodpile. Over yonder is the pickup truck bed cap from a vehicle last registered in 1987, and long since gone to its scrapyard reward. This stuff is only piled outside because the inside is already stuffed to the sagging rafters with similar jetsam. But the piece de resistance has got to be the “I ♥ Poon” bumper sticker on the door.

Decorating schemes in Maine generally crash into the Scylla of the Hobby Lobby, bounce off, and then careen into the side of the Home Depot Charybdis. The center of the main channel through the architectural straits is clear, and well-marked with Martha Stewart buoys, but Mainers don’t trust anything that looks that easy. So they’ll often find themselves stranded on the shoals of the Island of OSB, and similar ersatz plywood materials. This Gilligan must have been stranded overlong, because every surface in this house — ceiling, walls, floors, everything– is covered in oriented strand board. In case I forget to mention it later: Please, No Smoking.

This room has it all. I’m surprised there isn’t a stove and fridge in there, too. It’s got a map of Maine on the wall in case you find yourself lost while making your way from the bed to the woob-woob tub. Sometimes I think Mainers think of everything. Other times I think other things. But anyway, I’m flummoxed why they don’t install a diving board off the footboard. Seems easier and safer than two marble stairs.

This room has a lot going for it. It’s tranquil. There may or may not be someone dozing in the sleeping bag while the realtor tiptoes in to take a picture. The comfort level is high. When you’re lying on your mattress, discerning TV watchers always turn the set on its side, to match the orientation of your noggin. The windows are spray painted black to keep nosy neighbors and parole officers from peeking in, or the sunshine from disturbing the spiders who hold the ceiling down on top of the walls with their silky constructions. There are elegant photos of Marilyn Monroe on the wall, so that any hot supermodels who might drop by will feel at home. Snacks are always close at hand, if you’re willing to fish through the packages and fight the ants for the remainders. However, there are just too many half-filled jugs of yellowish liquids in the picture to suit my delicate sensibilities. The resident must work at an Amazon fulfillment center, and he takes his work home with him, is my guess.

You keep it classy, Maine.

You can see our entire series of Great Moments in Maine Real Estate here.

[Thanks for reading and commenting, buying my books, recommending this site to your interfriends, and hitting the tip jar. It is greatly appreciated]

Month: July 2024

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