#05-2020 Science News

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Linkrot

For the rest of May, my bestselling solarpunk utopian novel THE LOST CAUSE (2023) is available as a $2.99, DRM-free ebook!

Here's an underrated cognitive virtue: "object permanence" – that is, remembering how you perceived something previously. As Riley Quinn often reminds us, the left is the ideology of object permanence – to be a leftist is to hate and mistrust the CIA even when they're tormenting Trump for a brief instant, or to remember that it was once possible for a working person to support their family with their wages:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/27/six-sells/#youre-holding-it-wrong

The thing is, object permanence is hard. Life comes at you quickly. It's very hard to remember facts, and the order in which those facts arrived – it's even harder to remember how you felt about those facts in the moment.

This is where blogging comes in – for me, at least. Back in 1997, Scott Edelman – editor of Science Fiction Age – asked me to take over the back page of the magazine by writing up ten links of interest for the nascent web. I wrote that column until the spring of 2000, then, in early 2001, Mark Frauenfelder asked me to guest-edit Boing Boing, whereupon the tempo of my web-logging went daily. I kept that up on Boing Boing for more than 19 years, writing about 54,000 posts. In February, 2020, I started Pluralistic.net, my solo project, a kind of blog/newsletter, and in the four-plus years since, I've written about 1,200 editions containing between one and twelve posts each.

This gigantic corpus of everything I ever considered to be noteworthy is immensely valuable to me. The act of taking notes in public is a powerful discipline: rather than jotting cryptic notes to myself in a commonplace book, I publish those notes for strangers. This imposes a rigor on the note-taking that makes those notes far more useful to me in years to come.

Better still: public note-taking is powerfully mnemonic. The things I've taken notes on form a kind of supersaturated solution of story ideas, essay ideas, speech ideas, and more, and periodically two or more of these fragments will glom together, nucleate, and a fully-formed work will crystallize out of the solution.

Then, the fact that all these fragments are also database entries – contained in the back-end of a WordPress installation that I can run complex queries on – comes into play, letting me swiftly and reliably confirm my memories of these long-gone phenomena. Inevitably, these queries turn up material that I've totally forgotten, and these make the result even richer, like adding homemade stock to a stew to bring out a rich and complicated flavor. Better still, many of these posts have been annotated by readers with supplemental materials or vigorous objections.

I call this all "The Memex Method" and it lets me write a lot (I wrote nine books during lockdown, as I used work to distract me from anxiety – something I stumbled into through a lifetime of chronic pain management):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/09/the-memex-method/

Back in 2013, I started a new daily Boing Boing feature: "This Day In Blogging History," wherein I would look at the archive of posts for that day one, five and ten years previously:

https://boingboing.net/2013/06/24/this-day-in-blogging-history.html

With Pluralistic, I turned this into a daily newsletter feature, now stretching back to twenty, fifteen, ten, five and one year ago. Here's today's:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/21/noway-back-machine/#retro

This is a tremendous adjunct to the Memex Method. It's a structured way to review everything I've ever thought about, in five-year increments, every single day. I liken this to working dough, where there's stuff at the edges getting dried out and crumbly, and so your fold it all back into the middle. All these old fragments naturally slip out of your thoughts and understanding, but you can revive their centrality by briefly paying attention to them for a few minutes every day.

This structured daily review is a wonderful way to maintain object permanence, reviewing your attitudes and beliefs over time. It's also a way to understand the long-forgotten origins of issues that are central to you today. Yesterday, I was reminded that I started thinking about automotive Right to Repair 15 years ago:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/05/right-repair-law-pro

Given that we're still fighting over this, that's some important perspective, a reminder of the likely timescales involved in more recent issues where I feel like little progress is being made.

Remember when we all got pissed off because the mustache-twirling evil CEO of Warners, David Zaslav, was shredding highly anticipated TV shows and movies prior to their release to get a tax-credit? Turns out that we started getting angry about this stuff twenty years ago, when Michael Eisner did it to Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911":

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/05/us/disney-is-blocking-distribution-of-film-that-criticizes-bush.html

It's not just object permanence: this daily spelunk through my old records is also a way to continuously and methodically sound the web for linkrot: when old links go bad. Over the past five years, I've noticed a very sharp increase in linkrot, and even worse, in the odious practice of spammers taking over my dead friends' former blogs and turning them into AI spam-farms:

https://www.wired.com/story/confessions-of-an-ai-clickbait-kingpin/

The good people at the Pew Research Center have just released a careful, quantitative study of linkrot that confirms – and exceeds – my worst suspicions about the decay of the web:

https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2024/05/17/when-online-content-disappears/

The headline finding from "When Online Content Disappears" is that 38% of the web of 2013 is gone today. Wikipedia references are especially hard-hit, with 23% of news links missing and 21% of government websites gone. The majority of Wikipedia entries have at least one broken link in their reference sections. Twitter is another industrial-scale oubliette: a fifth of English tweets disappear within a matter of months; for Turkish and Arabic tweets, it's 40%.

Thankfully, someone has plugged the web's memory-hole. Since 2001, the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine has allowed web users to see captures of web-pages, tracking their changes over time. I was at the Wayback Machine's launch party, and right away, I could see its value. Today, I make extensive use of Wayback Machine captures for my "This Day In History" posts, and when I find dead links on the web.

The Wayback Machine went public in 2001, but Archive founder Brewster Kahle started scraping the web in 1996. Today's post graphic – a modified Yahoo homepage from October 17, 1996 – is the oldest Yahoo capture on the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/19960501000000*/yahoo.com

Remember that the next time someone tells you that we must stamp out web-scraping for one reason or another. There are plenty of ugly ways to use scraping (looking at you, Clearview AI) that we should ban, but scraping itself is very good:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/17/how-to-think-about-scraping/

And so is the Internet Archive, which makes the legal threats it faces today all the more frightening. Lawsuits brought by the Big Five publishers and Big Three labels will, if successful, snuff out the Internet Archive altogether, and with it, the Wayback Machine – the only record we have of our ephemeral internet:

https://blog.archive.org/2024/04/19/internet-archive-stands-firm-on-library-digital-rights-in-final-brief-of-hachette-v-internet-archive-lawsuit/

Libraries burn. The Internet Archive may seem like a sturdy and eternal repository for our collective object permanence about the internet, but it is very fragile, and could disappear like that.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/21/noway-back-machine/#pew-pew-pew

[aperture-hag]

Notes about "I Saw a Deer Today" (Portal fanfic)

Below are detailed notes on history/context surrounding this fanfic if anyone's interested:

We know almost nothing about Caroline, other than that she had to have lived in Upper Michigan. Something that interested me while writing this is concept of, “what if ‘Upper Michigan’ was all Caroline ever knew and all she ever was.” Cut to decades later, when GLaDOS becomes a permanent fixture of the land, forever. I think it adds to the tragedy of Caroline. Upper Michigan and Aperture Science was all she ever knew and all her essence ever would be.

Today, Michigan is one of the top 10 U.S. states with the largest population of Native Americans. The tribes include but are not limited to the Ottawa, Ojibway, Chippewa, and Potawatomi. From the 1800s to the mid 1900s, the United States made systemic attempts to erase the culture of all Native Americans by separating children from parents and forcing them into “boarding schools,” the effects of which are still felt today, despite few people in the U.S. talking about it or teach it in history class. During the early 1900s, an increased number of European immigrants (mostly Italian and German, with Germans being seen as the preferred group) moved to Michigan to work in the burgeoning mines. After mining booms, towns used to host all the workers became more or less ghost towns, with the population decreasing year by year.

Some sources I used for research

Deer Hunting in the 1950s: https://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/content/articles/deer-news/deer-hunting-flashback-a-classic-1950-opening-day

History of Michigan as a state: https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/publications/manual/2001-2002/2001-mm-0003-0026-History.pdf

U.S. Indian Boarding Schools: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/us-indian-boarding-school-history/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_boarding_schools

The “war song about buddies” that Caroline was about to sing was a reference to this song, which was considered a classic of the 1920s: https://patrickmurfin.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-buddymurfin-home-confinement-music.html

Other notes:

Cave Johnson’s llama cigarettes are a spoof of Camel. Caroline’s is a spoof of Lucky Strike.

When I was bored one day last year I actually mapped out where Aperture was located in the UP, which is why I name-dropped certain towns and parks within that area. If you’re from there, I'm sorry if it's inaccurate. I haven’t been to Michigan so I just filled it in with my own familiarity with quiet American towns.

[darkmaga-returns]

Professors Norman Fenton and Martin Neil take an in-depth look back at the Covid crisis in their new book “Fighting Goliath: Exposing the flawed science and statistics behind the COVID-19 event”.

Hannes Sarv

Nov 05, 2024

It is somewhat ironic that although Fenton and Neil are mathematicians, their new book quickly reached the top of the Amazon sales charts in the 'Immunology' and 'Physician and Patient Medical Ethics' categories. Less surprisingly, the same happened in the 'Science and Maths Ethics' chart.

Fenton is Professor Emeritus of Risk, while Neil is Professor of Computer Science and Statistics at Queen Mary University of London. They began to analyse the Covid issues at the very beginning of the crisis in 2020 and published their findings consistently on their Substack publication Where Are The Numbers? as well as in other publications that would publish them – at one point, due to widespread censorship in mainstream science journals and other media, recognised scientists were no longer welcome. As they quickly came to understand that the virus was being portrayed as being dozens of times more dangerous than it actually was, and they also criticised the Covid vaccines – especially their efficacy but also harms related to them – they have understandably had to endure everything that scientists and other activists who opposed the governments' mindless Covid coercion and who represented the voice of reason in those hysterical times had to endure – censorship, cancelling, smear campaigns, government spying after them, etc. We have written extensively about Neil and Fenton's work before here and here.

An unfair struggle

The unfair struggle that they and others like them had to fight deserves to go unchallenged in the biblical parallel drawn in the title of Neil and Fenton's recent book, of David struggling with Goliath. However, as we well know, in his unequal battle, David killed the giant Philistine warrior Goliath with a single well aimed stone that struck his opponent on the forehead. While we can look at the Covid crisis from different angles now, it remains undeniable that this unemotional network of actors – the medical junta which can be represented by Goliath – that engaged in intimidation, abuse of power, vaccine coercion, spreading of lies, etc., was never really held accountable. It is difficult even to find people involved in spreading propaganda who would honestly admit to the mistakes that were made, let alone that the authorities as a whole would have drawn any meaningful conclusions. It is noteworthy that there have also been very few ex-post judgments from the courts in the world that really condemn the unreasonable and harmful path taken back then.

[ghelgheli]

Stuff I Read In February 2024

bold indicates favourites

Books

The Mantle of the Prophet, Roy Mottahedeh

Serious Weakness, Porpentine Charity Heartscape

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson

Pamphlets, Zines, etc.

Queer Fire: The George Jackson Brigade, Men Against Sexism, and Gay Struggle Against Prison [link]

Reform or Revolution? Rosa Luxemburg

Armed Joy, Alfredo M. Bonanno [link]

Designing Freedom, Stafford Beer [link]

Yuri/GL

Kill Switch, 1172

Immortal Parody, Kim Jong Geon

Her Tale of Shim Chong, Seri & Biwan

There's Weird Voices Coming from the Room Next Door! Suzuki Senpai

An Easy Introduction to Love Triangles (To Pass the Exam!) / Goukaku no Tame no! Yasashii Sankaku Kankei Nyuumon, Canno

Gentle Flutters, One Useless Dogggg

What Does the Fox Say? Gyeomji & Gaji

Our Dreams at Dusk / Shimanami Tasogare, Yuhki Kamatani

There Is No Love Wishing Upon a Star / Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai, murasakino/Shinoa

Short Fiction

Serious Weakness but with Girls, Porpentine Charity Heartscape [link]

Dirty Wi-Fi, Porpentine Charity Heartscape [link]

Bist-o-chār sā'at dar xāb o bidāri / 24 Restless Hours, Samad Behrangi [link]

Yek hulu o hezār hulu / One Peach and a Thousand Peaches, Samad Behrangi [link]

Palestine

What Does It Mean To Be Palestinian Now? Noura Erakat, Ahmed Moor, Noor Hindi, Mohammed El-Kurd, Laila Al-Arian 01/25/2024 [link]

"If You Say Anything to Anyone, a Zaka Van Will Run You Over", Brad Pearce 10/18/2023 [link]

The Epistemicide of the Palestinians, Abdulla Moaswes 02/02/2024 [link]

Manufacturing Content, Nora Barrows-Friedman & Matt Lieb [link]

Comparison is the Way We Know the World, Masha Gessen 12/19/2023 [link]

The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé, Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, Daniel Boguslaw 02/28/2024 [link]

Queer &c

Hands off our lives, our stories, and our bodies, AC 06/10/2022 [link]

Trapped in the Wrong Theory: Rethinking Trans Oppression and Resistance, Talia Mae Bettcher [doi]

A Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway

Why Are "Gender Critical" Activists So Fond of Gametes? Julia Serano 02/13/2024 [link]

Pol

Why I Left the PSL… or the DSA or Socialist Alternative or whatever, filler kid 07/20/2021 [link]

Allies Not Accomplices: An Indigenous Perspective & Provocation, 05/02/2014 [link]

Basic Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism, Attila Kotányi & Raoul Vaneigem 1961 [link]

Abolition, Nsámbu Za Suékama 06/06/2020 [link]

The Eye Upon Us Has Turned Upon Them, Nsámbu Za Suékama 07/16/2023 [link]

The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook, Aparna Gopalan 06/28/2023 [link]

Ram Mandir and Hindutva Fascist Myth of Decolonisation, Rida Fathima 02/07/2024 [link]

How the United States Crippled Haiti's Rice Industry, Leslie Mullin [link]

A Talk to Teachers, James Baldwin [link]

Stranger in the Village, James Baldwin [link]

Other

no good alone, Rayne Fisher-Quann 04/03/2021 [link]

Everyone's A Critic, Richard Joseph 01/13/2022 [link]

Neoplatonic kingship in the Islamic world: Akbar’s millennial history, Jos Gommans & Said Reza Huseini [link]

Is `Race Science' Making a Comeback? Angela Saini 07/10/2019 [link]

you’ve been traumatized into hating reading, Ismatu Gwendolyn 02/15/2024 [link]

[bumblebeeappletree]

This was aired back in 2020. In time of posting this it’s 2024. This is a very fascinating documentary about the climate of the planet in the past, and what it might look like in the future. I highly suggest everyone watch this.

Paleontologist Kirk Johnson explores the dynamic history—and future—of ice at the poles. (Aired February 5, 2020)

Official Website: https://to.pbs.org/3EUn0KC | #novapbs

In this two-hour special, renowned paleontologist Kirk Johnson takes us on an epic adventure through time at the polar extremes of our planet. Following a trail of strange fossils found in all the wrong places—beech trees in Antarctica, hippo-like mammals in the Arctic—Johnson uncovers the bizarre history of the poles, from miles-high ice sheets to warm polar forests teeming with life. What caused such dramatic changes at the ends of the Earth? And what can the past reveal about our planet’s climate today—and in the future?

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction

00:05:49 Hunting for Fossils on Islands near the North and South Poles

00:22:52 Fossil of New Dinosaur Species Found in Patagonia

00:29:04 Was Death Valley Always the Hottest Place on the Planet?

00:37:32 How Have Carbon Dioxide Levels Changed on Earth Over Time?

00:49:18 How Do Ice Sheets Form in Antarctica

00:56:47 How Did Life Persist Through the Ice Age?

01:11:29 Impacts of Rising Temperatures on Ice Cycles of the Planet

01:31:30 What Was the Warm World Like Before the Ice Age

01:43:04 This Cave Has Been Frozen for 100,000 Years

01:50:30 Conclusion

© 2020 WGBH Educational Foundation

All rights reserved

This program was produced by GBH, which is solely responsible for its content.

This program is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: https://pbs.org/donate/

Enjoy full episodes of your favorite PBS shows anytime, anywhere with the free PBS App: https://to.pbs.org/2QbtzhR

Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA's newsletter here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newslet...

FOLLOW US:

NOVA

YouTube:    / novaonline

Facebook:   / novapbs

Twitter:   / novapbs

Instagram:   / novapbs

TikTok:   / novapbs

PBS

Facebook:   / pbs

Twitter:   / pbs

Instagram:   / pbs

YouTube:    / pbs

TikTok:   / pbs

Shop: https://shop.pbs.org/

#paleontology #paleontologist #antarctica #antarctic #northpole #southpole #iceage #arctic #dinosaur #dinosaurs #deathvalley #deathvalleynationalpark

Where is the north pole, north pole temperature, ellesmere island, is antarctica the south pole, new dinosaur discovered, new dinosaur documentary, patagonia chile, what is the carbon cycle, death valley weather, death valley temperatures, snowball earth, ice sheet, drake passage

[usafphantom2]

China's mysterious reusable space plane lands after 276 days in orbit

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 05/08/2023 - 09:48am Space

China's reusable secret space plane completed its second mission on Monday, landing after 276 days in orbit.

China's state media and the manufacturer of the spacecraft, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), announced that the spacecraft landed at the end of May 8, Beijing time.

The seemingly successful mission was considered an important advance in the country's research on reusable spacecraft technology. No image, landing time or location was revealed by the developers.

The project will provide a more convenient and cheaper way to access the space for the peaceful use of the space in the future, according to the statement.

Artistic conception of the Chinese spacecraft.

The reusable test spacecraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on August 4 (UTC) 2022.

The spacecraft launched an object into orbit, according to U.S. Space Force tracking data revealed at the end of last year. The small satellite operated very close to the space plane.

U.S. Air Force X-37B spacecraft.

This apparent second flight in the secret spacecraft differs from its first mission in 2020. This flight saw the space plane orbit for four days in an orbit of 331 to 347 kilometers inclined by 50 degrees. The recently completed mission lasted 276 days, with the spacecraft entering an initial orbit of 346 to 593 kilometers inclined by 50 degrees, then circularing the orbit from 597 to 608 kilometers.

The spacecraft performed numerous small and much larger orbital maneuvers during its flight, with adjustments made in recent weeks in preparation for landing.

The mysterious track near Lop Nor. (Photo: 2020 PLANET LABS)

It is likely that the landing took place at the military base of Lop Nur, in Xinjiang. Information about the spacecraft's orbit suggests that an orbital trail over the installation around 0020 UTC provided the opportunity for landing, according to Jonathan McDowell, astrophysicist and spaceflight activity tracker.

An image of an Umbra synthetic aperture radar satellite suggests recent activity at the Lop Nur site.

China has released little information about the project. The size and mass of the spacecraft are, however, limited by the use of the Long March 2F rocket, which can transport just over 8 tons to low Earth orbit.

Clues about the dimensions and shape of the ship appeared soon after launch, when apparent images of the cargo fairing for the mission appeared online.

The spacecraft seems to be related to the development of an orbital segment of a two-stage space transport system for fully reusable orbit. A suborbital segment - with vertical takeoff and horizontal landing - had a second flight in September 2022.

The CASC reusable space plane project last year obtained national funding from the China Natural Sciences Foundation.

CASIC, a giant sister defense and space contractor, is working on her own space plane, called Tengyun.

Images that emerged in 2007 of a possible prototype of a Chinese reusable space plane, known as Shenlong, under an H-6 bomber.

Meanwhile, a trading company called Space Transportation raised more than $46.3 million for its hypersonic spacecraft plans in 2021. Several Chinese rocket companies have also created presentations, including small space planes launched on liquid rocket concepts.

China has sought to increase its access to space in a variety of ways in recent years, including the promotion of a commercial space sector that now features a variety of solid and developing reusable liquid propellant reusable launch vehicles.

CASC, the country's main space contractor, is developing new super-heavy reusable launch vehicles that allow the country to try to land astronauts on the moon and a eventually fully reusable rocket to conduct large-scale space infrastructure missions.

Tags: ChinaSpace

Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Daytona Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work around the world of aviation.

Related news

COMMERCIAL

Russia continues to work on components for CR929

05/03/2023 - 11:00

SPACE

ViaSat-3 Americas is successfully launched

05/03/2023 - 06:00

SPACE

Virgin Galactic concludes gliding flight from Spaceport America

04/30/2023 - 11:20

HNA signed a contract for 60 single-aisle passenger jets C919 (photo) and 40 regional ARJ21 jets yesterday in Shanghai.

COMMERCIAL

COMAC sells 100 aircraft to Chinese airline

28/04/2023 - 10:00

SPACE

SpaceX tries again today the first launch of Starship

04/20/2023 - 09:00

SPACE

SpaceX aborts launch of the Starship rocket with a few minutes left

04/17/2023 - 19:25

homeMain PageEditorialsINFORMATIONeventsCooperateSpecialitiesadvertiseabout

Cavok Brazil - Digital Tchê Web Creation

Commercial

Executive

Helicopters

HISTORY

Military

Brazilian Air Force

Space

Specialities

Cavok Brazil - Digital Tchê Web Creation

[starstruckbyacomet]

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Employees — Names, Pictures, & Background Stories

A. Articles

The Independent:

Below article could be translated to English:

The Daily Beast:

B. Photo Compilations

Source: BradRichard4/X

Source: X (deleted)

C. The Maginificent Seven

1)) Akash Bobba, age 21, a graduate of the Management, Entrepreneurship and Technology program at University of California, Berkeley.

Other sources:

The Class of 2021: Their thoughts on a year like none other (NJ Spotlight News, Jul 5, 2021).

Who is Akash Bobba? The 22-year-old Indian-origin prodigy joining Elon Musk's DOGE (Hindustan Times, Feb 05, 2025).

Who is Akash Bobba? The Indian-origin engineer in Elon Musk’s DOGE (Deccan Herald, Feb 05, 2025).

Meet Akash Bobba, Indian-Origin Engineer With Key Role In Elon Musk's DOGE (NDTV, Feb 04, 2025).

2)) Edward Coristine, age 19, a student at Northeastern University in Boston.

Other sources:

Edward Coristine education and career: How this college kid with a Physics Major landed up in Musk-led DOGE (The Times of India, Feb 5, 2025).

Northeastern student identified as engineer for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (The Huntington News, Feb 4, 2025).

Young techies underpin Musk's drive to slash size of US government (Reuters, Feb 5, 2025).

3)) Luke Farritor, age 23, who attended the University of Nebraska without graduating.

Other sources:

The 22-Year-Old Who Unlocked the Secrets of Ancient Romee Free Press (The Free Press, Feb 17, 2024).

Luke Farritor: Husker wins grand prize for global Vesuvius Challenge (University of Nebraska, YouTube, 11 months ago).

Farritor named co-winner of $700,000 prize for ID’ing scroll passages (Nebraska Today, Feb 5, 2024).

Young techies underpin Musk's drive to slash size of US government (Reuters, Feb 5, 2025).

4)) Gautier Cole Killian, age: 24, attended McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Other source:

Cole Killian. Podcast Producer. Cole Killian is a fellow Math and Comp Sci Student. Enjoys hiking, guitar, building full stack apps, and competitive programming. Aspiring blogger, ask me about org mode :) (McGill University AI 2021-2022 Team).

5)) Gavin Kliger, age 25, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a 3.95 grade point average.

Other sources:

Young techies underpin Musk's drive to slash size of US government (Reuters, Feb 5, 2025).

Gavin Kliger (Pinterest).

Gavin Kliger, undergrad alumni (University of California, Berkeley).

Elon Musk's chief nerd celebrates DOGE appointment with elaborate $1,000 troll scam (Daily Mail, Feb 05, 2005).

6)) Ethan Shaotran, age 22, who said in Sep 2024 he was a senior at Harvard.

Other sources:

Students participate in real, mock investment opportunities: Sophomore Ethan Shaotran (The Oracle, Mar 30, 2018).

Ethan Shaotran on The Actual Risks of Generative AI (Reinvent Fututes, YouTube, 1 year ago)

I'm a Harvard senior who balances college and my OpenAI-backed startup through these 3 productivity tips (Business Insider, Sep 02, 2024).

Ethan Shaotran is a Harvard student and founder of Energize.AI. He’s the author of several AI books, patent inventor, and was published by IEEE for his research at Harvard SEAS on autonomous systems. He’s cross-registered at MIT and HBS. (Harvard University)

Ethan Shaotran is a researcher at Harvard University's Edge Computing Lab, working on autonomous vehicles. He is also the author of “Stock Prediction with Deep Learning.” (ResearchGate)

Ethan Shaotran is an AI developer and founder of Energize AI. He is also a current student at Harvard. He previously worked on computer vision for Amply (acq. by BP), and did AI research at Harvard while in high school. He holds 4 patents in ML/logistics, and research has been published by IEEE. Ethan is an affiliate with the Harvard Kennedy School’s AI Initiative and is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery. (Amazon)

7)) Marko Elez, age 25, who graduated from Rutgers University in 2021.

Other source:

Who is Marko Elez, the 25-year-old engineer trusted by Elon Musk with direct access to the US Treasury: Is the US economy in danger? (elEconomista.es, tranlated to English, Feb 04, 2025).

These men just stole the personal information of everyone in America AND control the Treasury. Link to article.

Akash Bobba

Edward Coristine

Luke Farritor

Gautier Cole Killian

Gavin Kliger

Ethan Shaotran

Spread their names!

[feathersandcranes]

Bibliography

As of 4/30/2025:

Experience, Japan. “The Majestic Red-Crowned Crane: Symbol of Longevity and Peace in East Asia.” Japan Experience, 6 May 2024, www.japan-experience.com/plan-your-trip/to-know/traveling-japan/red-crowned-crane.

David Mitchell’s Origami Heaven - History - the Orizuru or Paper Crane. www.origamiheaven.com/historyofthepapercrane.htm.

David Mitchell’s Origami Heaven - History - Ocho and Mecho. www.origamiheaven.com/historyochoandmecho.htm.

“History of Origami | Free Origami Instructions | Origami Resource Center.” Origami Resource Center, 21 Jan. 2024, origami-resource-center.com/history-of-origami.

“Formal Mecho | Traditional Japanese Butterflies | Sake Bottle Ornaments.” Origami Resource Center, 4 Sept. 2021, origami-resource-center.com/formal-mecho/#google_vignette.

History of Origami | Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking. paper.gatech.edu/kinetic-joy/history-origami.

David Mitchell’s Origami Heaven - History - a Brief History of Practical, Religious, Ceremonial and Etiquettical Paperfolding in Japan. www.origamiheaven.com/historypracticaljapan.htm.

Young, Nana. “The Graceful Crane: Symbolism and Significance in Japanese Culture.” Bokksu, 26 May 2024, www.bokksu.com/blogs/news/the-graceful-crane-symbolism-and-significance-in-japanese-culture?srsltid=AfmBOopSfjmfClpv8lM7iELmBzPcFVwZmQQWTZaPzd9i58FqRMSknGj5.

How Paper Cranes Became a Symbol of Healing in Japan. news.nationalgeographic.org/how-paper-cranes-became-a-symbol-of-healing-in-japan.

Wolf, Robert. “Tsuru / Japanese Mythology and Culture.” Mingei Arts, 4 Oct. 2021, mingeiarts.com/blogs/celebration-of-mingei-journey-through-japan/tsuru-japanese-mythology-and-culture?srsltid=AfmBOoqkVG-FeYDeUgqIHx8bQ297iUMxrL_Ja8pFtpoeX9ZwdEfxC7Ti%20%20Avatar.

UNESCO - Le Washi, Savoir-faire Du Papier Artisanal Traditionnel Japonais. ich.unesco.org/fr/RL/le-washi-savoir-faire-du-papier-artisanal-traditionnel-japonais-01001#:~:text=The%20traditional%20craft%20of%20hand,chichibu%20Village%20in%20Saitama%20Prefecture.

Goss, Rob. “Unlocking the Mystery of Japan’s Perfect Paper.” Travel, 28 June 2021, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/unlocking-mystery-of-japans-perfect-washi-paper.

Washi: A History of Japanese Papermaking | Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking. paper.gatech.edu/washi/washi-history-japanese-papermaking.

Pincetl, Stephanie. “The Japanese Relationship to Nature and Possible Lessons for the Future — Stephanie Pincetl.” Stephanie Pincetl, 30 Sept. 2018, www.spincetl.com/home/2018/9/30/the-japanese-relationship-to-nature-and-possible-lessons-for-the-future.

Peters, John Durham. The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media. University of Chicago Press, 2015.

Origami World. “Easy Origami Goat: Mastering the Art of Paper Folding | Origami World | Fold Paper Animals Origami.” YouTube, 20 July 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgplr0UBzds.

Lakoff, George. “Why It Matters How We Frame the Environment.” Environmental Communication, vol. 4, no. 1, Mar. 2010, pp. 70–81, doi:10.1080/17524030903529749.

Easy Origami and Crafts. “Easy Origami Dragon - How to Fold.” YouTube, 27 Aug. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q1qKtGTGgo.

Gathered Makes. “How to Make an Origami Dragon.” YouTube, 23 Oct. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=--oZ0M78j5M.

ALPHA, and Murasaki Shikibu. “Cicadas and Culture: What the Insect Means to Japan.” games.thisisalpha.com, www.alphacrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Cicadas-and-Culture-What-the-Insect-Means-to-Japan.pdf.

cozyandwarm. “Origami - How to Make a Cicada.” YouTube, 16 Feb. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkHX18n4tak.

Sontag, Susan. On Photography. Picador USA, 2025.

Today, Japan. “5 Facts About the Special Significance of Cicadas in Japan.” Japan Today, japantoday.com/category/features/5-facts-about-the-special-significance-of-cicadas-in-japan. Levy, Max. “Cicadas Are Delightful Weirdos You Should Learn to Love.” Smithsonian Magazine, 29 May 2020, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-are-cicadas-180975009.

“The Glaciers of Glacier National Park — Richard Forbes.” Richard Forbes, www.richardhforbes.com/theglaciers.

Origami Resource Center, 4 Sept. 2021, origami-resource-center.com/formal-mecho.

Tonino, Leath. “Two Ways of Knowing.” The Sun Magazine, 16 Apr. 2024, www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/22248-two-ways-of-knowing.

Williams, Raymond. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Oxford UP, 2015.

Cronon, William. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking The Human Place In Nature. National Geographic Books, 1996.

[braingymau]

How Do Brain Gym Exercises Develop Your Memory?

We have to remember so many things in our everyday lives, and it is because of our memory we can function in this way. We always think memory ability cannot be changed or improved, but that's not true; actually, we can do it with brain gym exercises.

These exercises are simple, yet you will feel how powerful they are, and because of this, it has gained popularity all over the world.

The Science Behind Brain Gym Australia

The movement has a direct impact on brain function, according to the theory behind Brain Gym Australia. We always want to do exercises to maintain body weight because we know how it helps our body to stay healthy, and the brain also needs exercises to maintain its good function, as it is all science.

https://braingym.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ha-expressive-artIMG_3409.jpg

When the brain gets a good amount of oxygen, and it flows better in the brain, then function improves, which is why your memories become better.

How Is Memory Improved by Brain Training Programs?

Effectively organizing, storing, and retrieving data is equally as important to memory as remembering it. Exercises that test various cognitive processes are included in Brain Training Programs, which are specially made to target these areas. These programs engage many brain regions at once by combining mental tasks, physical mobility, and sensory stimulation.

Exercises Based on the Brain's Function in Cognitive Development

It is good to combine learning and movement, as brain-based exercises improve the brain's ability to receive information. A person's memory recall can be easily improved with regular exercises. It has also been researched so many times that including these exercises in daily routines improves mental clarity and attention, which in turn increases the effectiveness and enjoyment of learning.

Kids'Brain Gym: An Enjoyable Method to Boost Memory

Children can enhance their memory, reading comprehension, and focus by engaging in activities like energy yawn exercises, cross-crawl movements, and lazy eights.

Because they develop new neural connections that facilitate improved information processing, these exercises are particularly helpful for kids with learning disabilities. Brain Training for Kids is being used in classrooms by educators and schools around the world to improve students' academic performance and general brain function.

Professional Dvelopment Courses for Educators

The cognitive capacities of children are greatly influenced by their teachers. These days, a lot of teachers are enrolling in professional development courses to learn how to incorporate brain gym practices into their lesson plans. These classes offer insightful information about how memory and academic performance are improved by movement-based learning.

https://braingym.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/iStock-974092452C-scaled.jpg

Teachers who take part in Online Professional Development for Teachers can learn more about how to engage students more successfully and extend their retention of material. Teachers with this kind of training can establish an engaging and dynamic learning environment that is advantageous to every student.

Online Kinesiology Courses for Cognitive Enhancement

There are ways of learning environments like online kinesiology courses where you can learn how movement impacts mental performance, and when you do all the brain functions, you will know how much brain exercises improve them. By putting kinesiology principles into practice, people can create personalized brain training regimens for themselves, as it will also help them to enjoy cognitive enhancement.

Conclusion

Memory and general brain function can be improved naturally and effectively with Brain Gym exercises. Brain Gym exercises give you long-term benefits without suffering boredom. They are utilized in school as well as in the workplace, but it depends on you. If you want you can also include them daily in your life as a simple habit.So to get all the advantages of brain training programs just include them in your daily life and brain-based exercises will be a routine for you so that you can improve your memory with mental capacity

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Science Unearthed Archaeology

A young man’s brain turned to glass during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Scientists say they have figured out how

By Katie Hunt, CNN

4 minute read

Updated 4:05 PM EST, Thu February 27, 2025

The coastal town of Herculaneum was wiped out in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pictured is a fragment of organic glass found inside the skull of a deceased individual in Herculaneum.Pier Paolo Petrone

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. CNN  �� 

Glass rarely forms naturally from organic materials. However, in 2020, researchers discovered a black, glassy substance inside the skull of a person killed during the eruption of Italy’s Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Now, the scientists say they have worked out the sequence of events that likely killed the victim and led to the formation of the unique and puzzling glass, thought essentially to constitute fossilized brain tissue.

Recovered from the coastal town of Herculaneum, which along with Pompeii was wiped out by the eruption, the remains belonged to an individual, thought to be a young man, who was found lying face down on a bed buried by volcanic ash.

A new analysis of samples of the glass found inside the skull and spinal cord suggests that the person’s body tissue must have been heated to above 510 degrees Celsius (950 degrees Fahrenheit) before cooling rapidly to allow the glass to form in a process known as vitrification.

“The process of transformation of anything liquid into glass is the fast cooling, not the fast heating,” said Guido Giordano, a volcanologist at Roma Tre University in Rome and lead author of the study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

“Obsidian glass, that is a volcanic glass, forms when lava is very quickly cooled, for example, where it enters into water,” Giordano added.

However, the pyroclastic flows, composed of fast-moving volcanic material and toxic gas, that charged out of Vesuvius and buried Herculaneum could not have caused the brain tissues of this young man to turn into glass, he said. The temperatures of these flows did not reach higher than 465 C (869 F), the study said. Plus, they would have cooled slowly.

The remains of the deceased individual were found in a bed in Herculaneum.Pier Paolo Petrone

Connecting ash to glass

The young man’s skull and spine likely protected the brain from “complete thermal breakdown,” allowing fragments of the unique organic glass to form.

Unlike pyroclastic flows, which hug the ground, an ash cloud is airborne. However, the two are linked, Giordano said.

“What is an ash cloud? It’s a dilute part of the pyroclastic flow. It’s usually formed at the edges, above and laterally, where most of the material is like an avalanche or landslide, but the peripheral part is of finer particle ash,” he explained. “These clouds can be hot enough to kill you.”

Related article DNA analysis upends long-held assumptions about Pompeii victims’ final moments

To reach the findings, Giordano and his colleagues systematically cooled and heated fragments of the glass sampled from inside the skull and spine to understand what degree of heat and subsequent cooling was necessary. They found that the brain tissue transformed into glass at a temperature of at least 510 C (950 F).

“The ash cloud basically instantly killed the people, because they were engulfed in a cloud that was probably about 510, maybe 600 degrees (Celsius),” he added.

What do you think?Join 9 others in the comments

View Comments

Mount Vesuvius is visible in the background at the archaeological site of Herculaneum.Pier Paolo Petrone

Vitrification of soft tissue was “incredibly unlikely,” said Alexandra Morton-Hayward, a forensic anthropologist at the UK’s University of Oxford, adding that she was not convinced that the glassy substance was brain tissue. Morton-Hayward has compiled a unique archive of information about 4,405 brains unearthed by archaeologists. She was not involved in the research.

She said organic tissues, which are mostly water, can only be vitrified by rapid cooling to extremely low temperatures, well below zero C (32 F) — a process known as cryopreservation.

Cryopreservation involves cooling organs in liquid nitrogen to prevent ice formation, stabilizing them in a solid-like state while maintaining their molecular structure. “I’m not convinced this (artifact) is the one and only exception to this rule.”

Giordano said there was no doubt that the glass was organic in origin. Previous research has shown that neurons and proteins in the individual’s brain were preserved, he noted.

9 comments

[gook54-blog]

I

have ave three master one in chemistry ( explosives) one in Wildlife mgt ( wildlife economics) and one on Metaphysics ( energy healing) 18 years as an intelligence investigator/ analyst and profiler..I learnt idiots scoff mainly because the brainwashed by mainstream media bullshit ..and font even know it ..studied at Tavistock and worked for 5412 ..

this it proganda  only 0,1% of co2 is anthropogenic  Forest are increasing because of Co2  without coz  youbwoyld oxidase and die Oxygen destroys everything .

The proximity to the sun cause the poles to move the poles 135 km in a decade This caused polar shift Ice melted  but glaciers are multiplying faster ever before

Petrol.coal and petrochemical  cone from bacteria and are not fossil fuels  you can make ceued in days in a factory..

plastic cam beaten by bacteria in weeks

all the people running the climate change agenda at IPPC are petrochemicals tycoons including the Director  Tgey made the money fto petroleum and are now owners of cobalt Lthuiin batteries are ineffricutmt and dangerous but need cobalt.  A monopoly again

Did you see the huge  dairy farm destroyed in Texas nt hail  now there are tons of toxic waste to clean up 80% not recyclable. Windmills break blades about four a year The composites are  unryclable and get buried .Tge cold requires tons of fuel to melt ice on blades .The only profits are from those erecting the farms.

143 protocols on climate modifying systems and geoengeinering and yet jdiots cant see the agenda

Covid narrativewas tg ge first try they failed 7400 noe in jail . You did not hear? why 84000 media outlets printed

/ digital/ internet  84 people 8 corporations or 7 seven families . They own them  all facts  ho look it up  dont  use google it has paid several fines amounting to $11 billion in fines over the years for controlling agendas.  The www is only 0,1% actually information

use science Gate  or duck duck go

https://www.sciencealert.com/navigation-systems-finally-caught-up-with-the-mysteriously-north-pole-shift

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/the-earths-magnetic-north-pole-is-shifting-rapidly-so-what-will-happen-to-the-northern-lights

https://opentheword.org/2022/03/24/arctic-ice-cap-growing-again

https://eos.org/science-updates/new-perspectives-on-the-enigma-of-expanding-antarctic-sea-ice

https://www.thoughtco.com/does-oil-come-from-dinosaurs-1092003

https://newatlas.com/bioengineers-rebuilding-bacteria-to-produce-crude-oil/7723

https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-106261

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/environment/japanese-scientists-discover-plastic-eating-bacteria-53191

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/28/plastic-eating-bacteria-enzyme-recycling-waste

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759376113/unfurling-the-waste-problem-caused-by-wind-energy

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/28/world/wind-turbine-recycling-climate-intl/index.html

https://yankeeinstitute.org/2020/12/03/department-of-public-health-concerned-about-pfas-in-solar-panels-near-drinking-water

https://yankeeinstitute.org/2020/12/03/department-of-public-health-concerned-about-pfas-in-solar-panels-near-drinking-water

https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-potential-new-cop28-head-also-boss-of-one-of-worlds-biggest-oil-companies/a-64403298

you been BBB

bullshot baffles brains

So many people do not understand the relationship between climate change and cold weather.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Demon-haunted computers are back, baby

Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables on Jan 22 at 8PM.

As a science fiction writer, I am professionally irritated by a lot of sf movies. Not only do those writers get paid a lot more than I do, they insist on including things like "self-destruct" buttons on the bridges of their starships.

Look, I get it. When the evil empire is closing in on your flagship with its secret transdimensional technology, it's important that you keep those secrets out of the emperor's hand. An irrevocable self-destruct switch there on the bridge gets the job done! (It has to be irrevocable, otherwise the baddies'll just swarm the bridge and toggle it off).

But c'mon. If there's a facility built into your spaceship that causes it to explode no matter what the people on the bridge do, that is also a pretty big security risk! What if the bad guy figures out how to hijack the measure that – by design – the people who depend on the spaceship as a matter of life and death can't detect or override?

I mean, sure, you can try to simplify that self-destruct system to make it easier to audit and assure yourself that it doesn't have any bugs in it, but remember Schneier's Law: anyone can design a security system that works so well that they themselves can't think of a flaw in it. That doesn't mean you've made a security system that works – only that you've made a security system that works on people stupider than you.

I know it's weird to be worried about realism in movies that pretend we will ever find a practical means to visit other star systems and shuttle back and forth between them (which we are very, very unlikely to do):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/09/astrobezzle/#send-robots-instead

But this kind of foolishness galls me. It galls me even more when it happens in the real world of technology design, which is why I've spent the past quarter-century being very cross about Digital Rights Management in general, and trusted computing in particular.

It all starts in 2002, when a team from Microsoft visited our offices at EFF to tell us about this new thing they'd dreamed up called "trusted computing":

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/05/trusting-trust/#thompsons-devil

The big idea was to stick a second computer inside your computer, a very secure little co-processor, that you couldn't access directly, let alone reprogram or interfere with. As far as this "trusted platform module" was concerned, you were the enemy. The "trust" in trusted computing was about other people being able to trust your computer, even if they didn't trust you.

So that little TPM would do all kinds of cute tricks. It could observe and produce a cryptographically signed manifest of the entire boot-chain of your computer, which was meant to be an unforgeable certificate attesting to which kind of computer you were running and what software you were running on it. That meant that programs on other computers could decide whether to talk to your computer based on whether they agreed with your choices about which code to run.

This process, called "remote attestation," is generally billed as a way to identify and block computers that have been compromised by malware, or to identify gamers who are running cheats and refuse to play with them. But inevitably it turns into a way to refuse service to computers that have privacy blockers turned on, or are running stream-ripping software, or whose owners are blocking ads:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/02/self-incrimination/#wei-bai-bai

After all, a system that treats the device's owner as an adversary is a natural ally for the owner's other, human adversaries. The rubric for treating the owner as an adversary focuses on the way that users can be fooled by bad people with bad programs. If your computer gets taken over by malicious software, that malware might intercept queries from your antivirus program and send it false data that lulls it into thinking your computer is fine, even as your private data is being plundered and your system is being used to launch malware attacks on others.

These separate, non-user-accessible, non-updateable secure systems serve a nubs of certainty, a remote fortress that observes and faithfully reports on the interior workings of your computer. This separate system can't be user-modifiable or field-updateable, because then malicious software could impersonate the user and disable the security chip.

It's true that compromised computers are a real and terrifying problem. Your computer is privy to your most intimate secrets and an attacker who can turn it against you can harm you in untold ways. But the widespread redesign of out computers to treat us as their enemies gives rise to a range of completely predictable and – I would argue – even worse harms. Building computers that treat their owners as untrusted parties is a system that works well, but fails badly.

First of all, there are the ways that trusted computing is designed to hurt you. The most reliable way to enshittify something is to supply it over a computer that runs programs you can't alter, and that rats you out to third parties if you run counter-programs that disenshittify the service you're using. That's how we get inkjet printers that refuse to use perfectly good third-party ink and cars that refuse to accept perfectly good engine repairs if they are performed by third-party mechanics:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

It's how we get cursed devices and appliances, from the juicer that won't squeeze third-party juice to the insulin pump that won't connect to a third-party continuous glucose monitor:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

But trusted computing doesn't just create an opaque veil between your computer and the programs you use to inspect and control it. Trusted computing creates a no-go zone where programs can change their behavior based on whether they think they're being observed.

The most prominent example of this is Dieselgate, where auto manufacturers murdered hundreds of people by gimmicking their cars to emit illegal amount of NOX. Key to Dieselgate was a program that sought to determine whether it was being observed by regulators (it checked for the telltale signs of the standard test-suite) and changed its behavior to color within the lines.

Software that is seeking to harm the owner of the device that's running it must be able to detect when it is being run inside a simulation, a test-suite, a virtual machine, or any other hallucinatory virtual world. Just as Descartes couldn't know whether anything was real until he assured himself that he could trust his senses, malware is always questing to discover whether it is running in the real universe, or in a simulation created by a wicked god:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/28/descartes-was-an-optimist/#uh-oh

That's why mobile malware uses clever gambits like periodically checking for readings from your device's accelerometer, on the theory that a virtual mobile phone running on a security researcher's test bench won't have the fidelity to generate plausible jiggles to match the real data that comes from a phone in your pocket:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/01/google-play-malware-used-phones-motion-sensors-to-conceal-itself/

Sometimes this backfires in absolutely delightful ways. When the Wannacry ransomware was holding the world hostage, the security researcher Marcus Hutchins noticed that its code made reference to a very weird website: iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com. Hutchins stood up a website at that address and every Wannacry-infection in the world went instantly dormant:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#the-matrix

It turns out that Wannacry's authors were using that ferkakte URL the same way that mobile malware authors were using accelerometer readings – to fulfill Descartes' imperative to distinguish the Matrix from reality. The malware authors knew that security researchers often ran malicious code inside sandboxes that answered every network query with fake data in hopes of eliciting responses that could be analyzed for weaknesses. So the Wannacry worm would periodically poll this nonexistent website and, if it got an answer, it would assume that it was being monitored by a security researcher and it would retreat to an encrypted blob, ceasing to operate lest it give intelligence to the enemy. When Hutchins put a webserver up at iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com, every Wannacry instance in the world was instantly convinced that it was running on an enemy's simulator and withdrew into sulky hibernation.

The arms race to distinguish simulation from reality is critical and the stakes only get higher by the day. Malware abounds, even as our devices grow more intimately woven through our lives. We put our bodies into computers – cars, buildings – and computers inside our bodies. We absolutely want our computers to be able to faithfully convey what's going on inside them.

But we keep running as hard as we can in the opposite direction, leaning harder into secure computing models built on subsystems in our computers that treat us as the threat. Take UEFI, the ubiquitous security system that observes your computer's boot process, halting it if it sees something it doesn't approve of. On the one hand, this has made installing GNU/Linux and other alternative OSes vastly harder across a wide variety of devices. This means that when a vendor end-of-lifes a gadget, no one can make an alternative OS for it, so off the landfill it goes.

It doesn't help that UEFI – and other trusted computing modules – are covered by Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes it a felony to publish information that can bypass or weaken the system. The threat of a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine means that UEFI and other trusted computing systems are understudied, leaving them festering with longstanding bugs:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/09/free-sample/#que-viva

Here's where it gets really bad. If an attacker can get inside UEFI, they can run malicious software that – by design – no program running on our computers can detect or block. That badware is running in "Ring -1" – a zone of privilege that overrides the operating system itself.

Here's the bad news: UEFI malware has already been detected in the wild:

https://securelist.com/cosmicstrand-uefi-firmware-rootkit/106973/

And here's the worst news: researchers have just identified another exploitable UEFI bug, dubbed Pixiefail:

https://blog.quarkslab.com/pixiefail-nine-vulnerabilities-in-tianocores-edk-ii-ipv6-network-stack.html

Writing in Ars Technica, Dan Goodin breaks down Pixiefail, describing how anyone on the same LAN as a vulnerable computer can infect its firmware:

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/01/new-uefi-vulnerabilities-send-firmware-devs-across-an-entire-ecosystem-scrambling/

That vulnerability extends to computers in a data-center where the attacker has a cloud computing instance. PXE – the system that Pixiefail attacks – isn't widely used in home or office environments, but it's very common in data-centers.

Again, once a computer is exploited with Pixiefail, software running on that computer can't detect or delete the Pixiefail code. When the compromised computer is queried by the operating system, Pixiefail undetectably lies to the OS. "Hey, OS, does this drive have a file called 'pixiefail?'" "Nope." "Hey, OS, are you running a process called 'pixiefail?'" "Nope."

This is a self-destruct switch that's been compromised by the enemy, and which no one on the bridge can de-activate – by design. It's not the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last.

There are models for helping your computer bust out of the Matrix. Back in 2016, Edward Snowden and bunnie Huang prototyped and published source code and schematics for an "introspection engine":

https://assets.pubpub.org/aacpjrja/AgainstTheLaw-CounteringLawfulAbusesofDigitalSurveillance.pdf

This is a single-board computer that lives in an ultraslim shim that you slide between your iPhone's mainboard and its case, leaving a ribbon cable poking out of the SIM slot. This connects to a case that has its own OLED display. The board has leads that physically contact each of the network interfaces on the phone, conveying any data they transit to the screen so that you can observe the data your phone is sending without having to trust your phone.

(I liked this gadget so much that I included it as a major plot point in my 2020 novel Attack Surface, the third book in the Little Brother series):

https://craphound.com/attacksurface/

We don't have to cede control over our devices in order to secure them. Indeed, we can't ever secure them unless we can control them. Self-destruct switches don't belong on the bridge of your spaceship, and trusted computing modules don't belong in your devices.

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/17/descartes-delenda-est/#self-destruct-sequence-initiated

Image: Mike (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/stillwellmike/15676883261/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[dannyfeargas]

Greetings,

It's the light pollution grad student. For ease I've just copied my reference list. most should be accessible but some might require a log in. They're each published in a few journals so you should be able to get access without paying even if you don't have a university or other professional affiliation.

Burt, Carolyn S., Jeffrey F. Kelly, Grace E. Trankina, Carol L. Silva, Ali Khalighifar, Hank C. Jenkins-Smith, Andrew S. Fox, Kurt M. Fristrup, and Kyle G. Horton. 2023. “The Effects of Light Pollution on Migratory Animal Behavior.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution 38, no. 4 (January). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.12.006.

Cao, Miao, Ting Xu, and Daqiang Yin. 2023. “Understanding Light Pollution: Recent Advances on Its Health Threats and Regulations.” Journal of Environmental Sciences 127, no. May (May): 589–602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2022.06.020.

Chepesiuk, Ron. 2009. “Missing the Dark: Health Effects of Light Pollution.” Environmental Health Perspectives 117, no. 1 (January). https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.117-a20.

Dobbyn, Paula. 2024. “Environmental Groups Sue Maui Resort over Endangered Seabird Injuries.” Honolulu Civil Beat. May 3, 2024. https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/05/environmental-groups-sue-maui-resort-over-endangered-seabird-injuries/.

Grossman, Lisa. 2023. “New Data Show How Quickly Light Pollution Is Obscuring the Night Sky.” ScienceNews. January 19, 2023. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/light-pollution-night-sky-bright-citizen-science.

Marrow, Erica N, and Shawn A Hutton. 2000. “Chicago Alley Lighting Project: Final Evaluation Report | Office of Justice Programs.” Www.ojp.gov. 2000. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/chicago-alley-lighting-project-final-evaluation-report.

National Park Service. 2016. “Light Pollution Sources - Night Skies (U.S. National Park Service).” Nps.gov. 2016. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nightskies/sources.htm.

Ouyang, Jenny Q., Maaike de Jong, Roy H. A. van Grunsven, Kevin D. Matson, Mark F. Haussmann, Peter Meerlo, Marcel E. Visser, and Kamiel Spoelstra. 2017. “Restless Roosts: Light Pollution Affects Behavior, Sleep, and Physiology in a Free-Living Songbird.” Global Change Biology 23, no. 11 (June): 4987–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13756.

Owens, Avalon C.S., Précillia Cochard, Joanna Durrant, Bridgette Farnworth, Elizabeth K. Perkin, and Brett Seymoure. 2020. “Light Pollution Is a Driver of Insect Declines.” Biological Conservation 241, no. 108259 (January): 108259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108259.

Smolensky, Michael H., Linda L. Sackett-Lundeen, and Francesco Portaluppi. 2015. “Nocturnal Light Pollution and Underexposure to Daytime Sunlight: Complementary Mechanisms of Circadian Disruption and Related Diseases.” Chronobiology International 32, no. 8 (September): 1029–48. https://doi.org/10.3109/07420528.2015.1072002.

Steinbach, Rebecca, Chloe Perkins, Lisa Tompson, Shane Johnson, Ben Armstrong, Judith Green, Chris Grundy, Paul Wilkinson, and Phil Edwards. 2015. “The Effect of Reduced Street Lighting on Road Casualties and Crime in England and Wales: Controlled Interrupted Time Series Analysis.” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 69, no. 11 (July): 1118–24. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2015-206012.

Happy reading!

Thank you so much!

[evoldir]

Fwd: Graduate position: UBonn_Germany.EvoDevoPopGenetics

Begin forwarded message: > From: evoldir@evol.biology.mcmaster.ca > Subject: Graduate position: UBonn_Germany.EvoDevoPopGenetics > Date: 17 November 2024 at 05:40:54 GMT > To: rdmpage@gmail.com > > > > PhD Student in Evolutionary Developmental Biology and Population Genetics > Gompel lab – Bonn Institute for Organismic Biology, University of > Bonn, Germany > > Our lab is interested in the genetic bases of morphological evolution. We > are looking for a PhD student to work on a new project at the crossroads > of Evolutionary Developmental Biology and Population Genetics. The > project aims at identifying genetic determinants in a population of flies > (Drosophila), underlying variation in wing pigmentation. The approach > will combine advanced and quantitative phenotypic analysis, genome-wide > association study, as well as molecular and genetic dissection using > transgenesis. The DFG-funded project will be done in collaboration > with quantitative and population geneticists in Montpellier, France, > and will involve reciprocal visits between both labs. The ultimate goal > of the project is to compare among-species genetic variation explaining > phenotypic evolution (past work from the Gompel lab), to within-species > determinants of comparable variation. > > Recent relevant publications: > Bachem K, Li X, et al. (2024) Science Advances, 10(4):eadl2616. doi: > 10.1126/sciadv.adl2616. > Ling L et al. (2023) Science Advances, 17;9(7):eade6529. doi: > 10.1126/sciadv.ade6529. > Xin Y, Le Poul Y, et al. (2020) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, > 10:202004003. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2004003117 > > What we offer: > A 3-year PhD student position starting in spring/summer 2025 > Competitive salary based on 13 TV-L (65%) of German pay scale. > Extensive research opportunities in a dynamic and collaborative > environment at the Bonn Institute for Organismic Biology of the University > of Bonn. > > Your profile: > A Master’s degree in life sciences, with a strong emphasis on molecular > biology and genetics > Experience in genomics and data analysis > Experience working in a wet lab > Excellent written and spoken English > > The research environment: > The University of Bonn is one of the most distinguished and well-networked > research universities in the world and conducts research in fields defined > by the Excellence Strategy. It is one of the eleven German Universities > of Excellence, with the most Clusters of Excellence. It combines an > international and intercultural environment with a strong emphasis on > transdisciplinary research, creating a rich environment for PhD students. > > Please send the following materials to apply: > - Your Master’s degree and transcripts. > - A detailed CV and contact details of two academic referees. > - A one-page cover letter highlighting your motivation and summarising >  your research expertise > > Send your application by e-mail to Nicolas Gompel (gompel@uni-bonn.de) > Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis, until the position > is filled. > > > Prof. Dr.Nicolas Gompel > > University of Bonn > Bonn Institute for OrganismicBiology (BIOB) > > Meckenheimer Allee 169, 53115 Bonn, Germany > > Tel.: +49 (0)228 734784 ngompel@uni-bonn.de  Lab page > > Nicolas Gompel

[lordprophet]

Political Sleight of Hand and Remember, Remember, Remember Reality, Please, Before It's Too Late 

— a pre-voting, final-hours updated vitally-important read for voters in today's US presidential election of Tuesday, 11-05-2024

Political Sleight of Hand and Remember, Remember, Remember Reality, Please, Before It's Too Late

— a pre-voting, final-hours updated vitally-important read for voters in today's US presidential election of Tuesday, 11-05-2024

Why would an individual pollster and political analyst among many accuse the many others of pressing a finger down on their consensus polling data on the candidates in the US presidential election competition to the favor of Kamala Harris by one point within the margin of error or to show a virtual tie between the candidates and himself contrarily claim a landslide win for Trump? He would do so to get mass attention-grabbing reads of his written election news commentary in major part to temper down the harsh and negative rhetorical attacks, the bad news and bad publicity, against Trump and to have his Trump-favorable commentary and nudging of cautious silence toward Trump viralized. It makes sense that he would be doing this with the ultimate goal in mind of getting the adoption of his controversial, contrarian commentary as belief by much of the public that is followed by its/their sudden mass spread of this maverick conclusion as an expectation that could and might, as a matter of caution and self-concern by others en masse, hush bad publicity and vote-losing rhetorical attacks and endorsements against Trump by socially high-profile figures and organizations of influence otherwise critical of Trump, to a desired significantly beneficial political effect for him in a close election, according to a consensus of the major election polls, in the last few presidential campaign days leading up to the US presidential election of 11/05/2024.

However, it has newly come to my attention in my listening to radio broadcast interviews of objectively-minded political science professors and reputable professional political analysts that other minor, known-MAGA-partisan pollsters have been making the same claim online and in the pro-MAGA broadcasts as that of the hereinabove referred to mainstream election pollster-analyst of a landslide presidential election victory for Trump, a wrong MAGA-partisan private-pollsters polls-based previous election forecast which they (the interviewees) said the same or like folks made in advance, via same communications media channels, of the 2020 US presidential election actual defeat of Trump and win of current POTUS Joe Biden on election day then of 11-03-2020. In essence, they proposed that these dubious private polls of the past may have been the strategic, fallback plan-B, motivational groundwork that set the stage in advance of that election for MAGA-movement attempts to overturn it, if it resulted in a defeat of Trump’s reelection bid, which it did, by various means, such as mass mobilization action of aggressive MAGA political activists, legislatively and administratively within GOP-dominated state legislatures and GOP-MAGAs in the houses of Congress and judicially, by state and federal courts, including the GOP-membership-dominated US Supreme Court, all tried but comprehensively failed means to overturn the election of Biden as US president and retain the Trump Presidency. They say, in overall effect, that the Trump-MAGA team have probably learned from this previous thorough failure to alternatively win the US presidency in contravention of traditional federal Constitutional- and statutory-law institutional protocols and means and this time may be using such partisanly private and dubious election polls and bogus forecasts disseminated on online social media platforms and in right-wing mass media broadcasts, such as Fox, etc., as a same fallback strategy in the event of another defeat of Donald Trump in his current 2024 presidential election bid to overturn a win of that election by current US Vice President Kamala Harris but one with a much improved, better and more effective overturn or insurrection “game.”

All the while the Trump campaign and its compatriots on the sidelines, including those in the mass communications media, illusorily misrepresent the former Trump Presidency as having been an economic success story in which business and households were better off then economically than they are now under the Biden Presidency. It is a fallacious good-old-days mirage of a Trumpian national economic success story in that in less than half way into the second two years of Trump's four-year term as US president, our nation, and the nations of almost the whole of humanity worldwide was/were stricken by the Covid-19 pandemic, which was mismanaged by Trump and his presidential administration by first delaying announcing it publicly, then downplaying its significant danger and delaying taking societal action to contend with it nationally until the casualties from it soared, which resulted in a nationwide economic shutdown, a national shortage of toilet paper, the emptying of and lasting shortage in supplies of groceries in grocery stores, comprehensive spikes in the prices of groceries, extending to soaring price inflation, often seller-gouging price push inflation, of nearly all goods and services and retention of increased prices, and in mass job losses and unemployment, all the product of the soaring-inflation, economically failed Trump Presidency, like his past 6 business bankruptcies.

The Biden Presidency has been the rescue and clean-up crew of the dream economy inherited, and trashed, by former POTUS Trump from the Obama Presidency, in which Biden was vice president, and has restored record-level high employment to our nation, competently managed its takeover in handling the national Covid-19 pandemic and phased our nation out of its crisis status, and it, together with the Federal Reserve Bank, has substantially reduced the rate of inflation it inherited from the Trump Presidency.

However, the economist Paul Krugman explained that never following periods of soaring price inflation have prices returned to what they were before the periods of soaring price inflation, which is the way economic history works. Prices returning to what they were before a period of soaring price inflation would not happen (with the somewhat exception of modestly volatile gasoline prices for automobiles in the short term) if our economy were managed by the economic titans of the past Adam Smith, Alexander Hamilton, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, John Kenneth Galbraith and Milton Friedman, as well as by the financial titans Mansa Musa, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

It is the deplorables and garbage brains of the Trump team and cult who blame the Biden clean-up crew for the mess the gaslighting, mind-wiping Trump Presidency and political team created by dereliction, mismanagement and incompetent governance and for impossibly not returning the economy's post-inflation higher prices to pre-inflation lower prices. Don’t hold your breath hoping and waiting for the latter to happen.

[jcmarchi]

Nuh Gedik receives 2024 National Brown Investigator Award

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/nuh-gedik-receives-2024-national-brown-investigator-award/

Nuh Gedik receives 2024 National Brown Investigator Award

Nuh Gedik, MIT’s Donner Professor of Physics, has been named a 2024 Ross Brown Investigator by the Brown Institute for Basic Sciences at Caltech.

One of eight awarded mid-career faculty working on fundamental challenges in the physical sciences, Gedik will receive up to $2 million over five years.

Gedik will use the award to develop a new kind of microscopy that images electrons photo-emitted from a surface while also measuring their energy and momentum. This microscope will make femtosecond movies of electrons to study the fascinating properties of two-dimensional quantum materials.  

Another awardee, professor of physics Andrea Young at the University of California Santa Barbara, was a 2011-14 Pappalardo Fellow at MIT in experimental condensed matter physics. 

The Brown Institute for Basic Sciences at Caltech was established in 2023 through a $400-million gift from entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Caltech alumnus Ross M. Brown, to support fundamental research in chemistry and physics. Initially created as the Investigator Awards in 2020, the award supports the belief that “scientific discovery is a driving force in the improvement of the human condition,” according to a news release from the Science Philanthropy Alliance.

A total of 13 investigators were recognized in the program’s first three years. Now that the Brown Investigator Award has found a long-term home at Caltech, the intent is to recognize a minimum of eight investigators each year. 

Other previous awardees with MIT connections include MIT professor of chemistry Mircea Dincă as well as physics alumni Waseem S. Bakr ’05, ’06, MNG ’06 of Princeton University; David Hsieh of Caltech, who is another former Pappalardo Fellow; Munira Khalil PhD ’04 and Mark Rudner PhD ’08 of the University of Washington; and Tanya Zelevinsky ’99 of Columbia University.