Kinda Trash Day

Now where did I put that flip phone?

Apparently, it’s Wednesday. What happened to Tuesday? I didn’t get the memo. No one notified me. I didn’t get a heads-up. I wasn’t clued in. At any rate, let’s clean out our browser bookmarks, and start looking forward to another week of putting fresh ones aside, and not getting around to reading them either.

How DRAM changed the world

1966 was a long time ago. The Beatles released Revolver. The No. 1 film was The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly. And computers, such as they were, involved paper tape and punch card readers. That same year, Robert Dennard invented dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Two years later — 55 years ago —on June 4, 1968, the DRAM patent was granted. The rest is history.

That’s not bad writing. It is, however, trite writing. Interesting story, though, of a man you never heard of that invented something akin to the wheel, only for computers.

Singapore grants conditional approval for 4,300km subsea cable to import electricity from Australia

Approval was granted to import 1.75 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon electricity from Northern Australia into Singapore, announced Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng on Oct. 22 at the Asia Clean Energy Summit during the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) 2024. This will account for approximately nine per cent of Singapore’s total electricity needs.

I hope the United States never objects to this. It would be a shame if something happened to your undersea infrastructure.

Brazil Arrests ‘USDoD,’ Hacker in FBI Infragard Breach

Brazilian authorities reportedly have arrested a 33-year-old man on suspicion of being “USDoD,” a prolific cybercriminal who rose to infamy in 2022 after infiltrating the FBI’s InfraGard program and leaking contact information for 80,000 members. More recently, USDoD was behind a breach at the consumer data broker National Public Data that led to the leak of Social Security numbers and other personal information for a significant portion of the U.S. population.

Does this mean the girl at the dentist’s office could just look up my SS# online, instead of asking me every time? It would save time.

Oriental hornets do not get sick or die when consuming very large amounts of alcohol, study shows

A team of behavioral ecologists, zoologists and crop protection specialists from Tel Aviv University reports that Oriental hornets have the highest-known tolerance to alcohol in the animal kingdom. In their study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group fed ethanol solutions to hornets.

I’ll take Answers to Questions nobody asked for $500, Alex. Also, the Oriental Hornets is the name of my Vapors tribute band. But I digress.

Tracks left by a bird-sized dinosaur suggest it used wings to run faster

A small international team of biologists, geologists and paleontologists has found evidence that a bird-sized dinosaur from the early Cretaceous used its wings to run faster. In their study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group analyzed both the footprints and the creature that left them and reported evidence for wing-assisted running.

It’s a news item about wings that doesn’t even mention how they might go with blue cheese dip and celery on the side. I’ll mark it incomplete.

A Hiker Started a Wildfire Trying to Signal for Help. Now He Owes the Government $300,000

Powers, she wrote, “was reckless and negligent in his preparation for a hike of this magnitude from the outset.” He hadn’t packed a GPS device, paper map, or compass, instead relying on a cell phone mapping app that was useless without service. He had failed to bring a headlamp or flashlight, instead relying on his phone’s built-in light. While he had brought two large knives, he hadn’t brought a first-aid kit or any method of signaling for help in an emergency. He wasn’t, she said, even on the right trail: Instead of the 17-mile, moderate Cabin Loop, he was hiking the 18.8-mile Taylor Cabin Loop, a full 50 miles away, which his guidebook rated as strenuous.

Nature tries as hard as it can to cull the weak-minded. We’re always interfering.

Welcome to the Dark Side of the Tech Industry

In the high-pressure world of technology startups, where willpower, work ethic, and high intelligence are highly prized, disheartening trends are prevailing in the industry. From drug use and disagreeable coworkers to the constant worry about losing your job and the harsh glass floor to get into the industry, these challenges paint a grim picture of what it takes to survive and thrive in tech.

Hmm. I was unaware the tech industry had a good side. People typing a little in cubicles want to make it sound like they’re climbing Everest. Oh well. If the going gets too rough, I suggest you light a signal fire in the break room, and wait for help.

Nationwide Telecommunications Provider and its CEO Plead Guilty to Massively Defrauding Federal Government Programs Meant to Aid the Needy

MIAMI –Issa Asad, 51, of Southwest Ranches, Fla., and Q Link Wireless LLC, of Dania Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty today to conspiring to defraud and commit offenses against the United States in connection with a years-long scheme to steal over $100 million from a celebrated federal program providing discounted phone service to people in need. Asad, Q Link’s CEO, also pleaded guilty to laundering money from a separate scheme to defraud a different federal program meant to aid individuals and businesses hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Issa Asad? I always hate to see a fellow Irishman gone bad.

How the United States Can Win the Battery Race

But even significant funding won’t get the job done if it isn’t directed at the right target: securing U.S. supremacy in next-generation technology, solid-state batteries. U.S. companies and research institutions are on the cusp of commercializing next-generation batteries that far surpass the performance of today’s lithium-ion batteries in safety, longevity, and energy density. And with scaled-up production, these batteries would eliminate dependence on Chinese-produced graphite.

Solid state batteries are all of a sudden the answer. I’ve said it here ten times. Li-Ion batteries are the curlicue lightbulbs of energy storage. Although Teslas will always make excellent signal fires if you’re stranded a short walk from the nearest battery charger. 

Neanderthal group genetically isolated for 50,000 years despite being just 10 days’ walk from neighbours

Until now, the story has been that at the time of the extinction there was just one Neanderthal population that was genetically homogeneous, but now we know that there were at least 2 populations present at that time,” says co-first author Tharsika Vimala of the University of Copenhagen.

They should have lit a signal fire when the signal from their cellphones went dead. They were Neanderthal, so I assume they had flip phones.

Well, there’s the roundup. Go out there and have a terrific yesterday, people.

Day: October 23, 2024

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