#Technology Adaptation

[emorphistechno]

Explore the technologies enhancing Financial Services and BFSI sector including the Financial Services cloud. Features including account administration, financial planning tools, portfolio management, and compliance monitoring are available in the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud. To offer a complete solution for financial institutions, it also interfaces with other Salesforce products like Marketing Cloud and Sales Cloud.

[technicalfika]

A Comprehensive Guide to HCL Interview Questions for Freshers

A Comprehensive Guide to HCL Interview Questions for Freshers

When it comes to landing your dream job at HCL (Hindustan Computers Limited), preparation is key. Whether you’re interviewing for a technical role or going through HR rounds, you need to be ready to answer a wide range of questions. To help you on your journey, we’ve compiled a list of common HCL interview questions and provided answers to assist freshers like you. Technical Interview…

[reasonsforhope]

"When a severe water shortage hit the Indian city of Kozhikode in the state of Kerala, a group of engineers turned to science fiction to keep the taps running.

Like everyone else in the city, engineering student Swapnil Shrivastav received a ration of two buckets of water a day collected from India’s arsenal of small water towers.

It was a ‘watershed’ moment for Shrivastav, who according to the BBC had won a student competition four years earlier on the subject of tackling water scarcity, and armed with a hypothetical template from the original Star Wars films, Shrivastav and two partners set to work harvesting water from the humid air.

“One element of inspiration was from Star Wars where there’s an air-to-water device. I thought why don’t we give it a try? It was more of a curiosity project,” he told the BBC.

According to ‘Wookiepedia’ a ‘moisture vaporator’ is a device used on moisture farms to capture water from a dry planet’s atmosphere, like Tatooine, where protagonist Luke Skywalker grew up.

This fictional device functions according to Star Wars lore by coaxing moisture from the air by means of refrigerated condensers, which generate low-energy ionization fields. Captured water is then pumped or gravity-directed into a storage cistern that adjusts its pH levels. Vaporators are capable of collecting 1.5 liters of water per day.

Pictured: Moisture vaporators on the largely abandoned Star Wars film set of Mos Espa, in Tunisia

If science fiction authors could come up with the particulars of such a device, Shrivastav must have felt his had a good chance of succeeding. He and colleagues Govinda Balaji and Venkatesh Raja founded Uravu Labs, a Bangalore-based startup in 2019.

Their initial offering is a machine that converts air to water using a liquid desiccant. Absorbing moisture from the air, sunlight or renewable energy heats the desiccant to around 100°F which releases the captured moisture into a chamber where it’s condensed into drinking water.

The whole process takes 12 hours but can produce a staggering 2,000 liters, or about 500 gallons of drinking-quality water per day. [Note: that IS staggering! That's huge!!] Uravu has since had to adjust course due to the cost of manufacturing and running the machines—it’s just too high for civic use with current materials technology.

“We had to shift to commercial consumption applications as they were ready to pay us and it’s a sustainability driver for them,” Shrivastav explained. This pivot has so far been enough to keep the start-up afloat, and they produce water for 40 different hospitality clients.

Looking ahead, Shrivastav, Raja, and Balaji are planning to investigate whether the desiccant can be made more efficient; can it work at a lower temperature to reduce running costs, or is there another material altogether that might prove more cost-effective?

They’re also looking at running their device attached to data centers in a pilot project that would see them utilize the waste heat coming off the centers to heat the desiccant."

-via Good News Network, May 30, 2024

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - September 8-14

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. Pair of rare Amur tiger cubs debuting at Minnesota Zoo are raising hopes for the endangered species

“[The Minnesota Zoo’s] Amur tigers have produced 57 cubs, [… 21 of which] have gone on to produce litters of their own, amounting to another 86 cubs. […] “They’re showing a lot of resiliency, which is something that we work hard for in human care. We want these animals to have a lot of confidence and be able to adapt to new environments just as they’re doing today.””

2. Powered by renewable energy, microbes turn CO₂ into protein and vitamins

“The team designed a two-stage bioreactor system that produces yeast rich in protein and vitamin B9. [… The protein] levels in their yeast exceed those of beef, pork, fish, and lentils. […] Running on clean energy and CO2, the system reduces carbon emissions in food production. It uncouples land use from farming, freeing up space for conservation[… and] will help farmers concentrate on producing vegetables and crops sustainably.”

3. JCPenney Launches Apparel Collection Aimed At Wheelchair Users

“A major department store is rolling out a new line of clothing specifically tailored to meet the needs of women who use wheelchairs featuring options for both everyday wear and special occasions. [… The clothing have] modifications like zippers located for easy access, pocket positioning and extended back rises optimized for the seated position and shorter sleeves to limit interference with wheels.”

4. Snails bred in Edinburgh Zoo sent to re-populate species in French Polynesia

“Thousands of rare partula snails bred at Edinburgh Zoo are to be released in French Polynesia to restore the wild population of the species.The last surviving few of the species were rescued in the early 1990s[….] 15 species and sub-species [are being bred in zoos for repopulation], the majority of which are classed as extinct in the wild.”

5. [NH Joins 19 Other States] to Provide Essential Behavioral Health Services Through Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams

“[CMS] approved New Hampshire’s Medicaid State Plan Amendment for community-based mobile crisis intervention teams to provide services for people experiencing a mental health or substance use disorder crisis. […] The multidisciplinary team provides screening and assessment; stabilization and de-escalation; and coordination with and referrals to health, social, and other services, as needed.”

6. Recovery plan for Missouri population of eastern hellbender

“It is expected that recovery efforts for the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender will reduce sedimentation and improve water quality in the aforementioned watersheds, which will also improve drinking water, as well as benefit multiple federally listed mussels, sport fish and other aquatic species.”

7. How $7.3B will help rural co-ops build clean power—and close coal plants

“[The funds are] serving about 5 million households across 23 states [… to] build wind and solar power, which is now cheaper than coal-fired power across most of the country. […] Some of it will be used to pay down the cost of closing coal plants[….] federal funding could help co-ops secure enough wind, solar, and battery resources to retire their entire coal capacity by 2032, cutting carbon emissions by 80 to 90 percent and reducing wholesale electricity costs by 10 to 20 percent[….]”

8. Native-led suicide prevention program focuses on building community strengths

“[Indigenous researchers have] designed programs that aim to build up a community’s endemic strengths, rather than solely treating the risks facing individuals within that community. By providing support and resources that enable access to Alaska Native cultural activities, they hope to strengthen social bonds that build resilience. […] “In a Yup’ik worldview, suicide is not a mental health disorder, and it’s not an individual affliction, it’s a disruption of the collective.””

9. Another rare Javan rhino calf spotted at Indonesia park

“A new Javan rhino calf has been spotted in an Indonesian national park, the facility's head said Friday, further boosting hopes for one of the world's most endangered mammals after two other […] calves were spotted earlier this year at the park, which is the only habitat left for the critically endangered animal.”

10. Transparent solar cells can directly supply energy from glass surfaces

“[Researchers have] unveiled a method of supplying energy directly from glass of buildings, cars, and mobile devices through transparent solar cells. […] It has also succeeded in charging a smartphone using natural sunlight. It also proved the possibility that a screen of a small mobile device can be used as an energy source.”

September 1-7 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[flowercrowncrip]

I would love to see voice control and eye tracking technology used on screen buy actual disable people in present day settings.

I swear I only see it in futuristic sci-fi settings, or in dystopian settings where is used to show that a character is getting too absorbed in social media.

I just wish that I could see it being used how it is, buy regular disabled people in the current day doing every day things

[stjohnstarling]

We’ve now found ourselves amid another shift in mass communication. One where algorithms successfully replaced ink and airwaves. And, just as 20th-century mass media created the concept of the consumer a hundred years ago, so too has this current shift redefined how we interact with the world. And accepting that this shift is permanent, in the sense that we can’t simply reverse it, is, I’m convinced, the only way forward. We are now either influencers or influenced.

[serpentface]

Retconned Wardi firearms- a basic handgun, a highly decorative ceremonial handgun (belonging to Faiza), and a lance-gun.

Gun tech has officially been nerfed down to hand cannons (press F) (this has been a long time coming but I'd been fallacy of sunk costs-ing myself out of retconning).

Handguns are held similarly to a shotgun, with the butt pressed into the user's shoulder, one hand gripping under the barrel, and the other free to ignite the gunpowder. These represent the most advanced firearms in contemporary usage, both in make and in their use of uniform iron projectiles built to match the gun's bore for greater range and efficiency. Lance-guns are the more basal form, usually larger and mounted with the pole held over the shoulder, and are most effectively used by two people (one to hold and aim, one to light the gunpowder).

The spread of firearms is currently mostly limited to the Eastern Inner Seaway peoples (with some additional distribution via overland trade), and actual manufacture of hand cannons and gunpowder at Significant scale is limited to the region's core powers.

The reason for this limited spread is partially due to specific elements of the technology's history. Gunpowder was first synthesized by Burri alchemists and considered to be the discovery of the legendary divine weapon + solar fire of the deity Inanariya, and its formula (along with techniques for ideally refining its components) remained a closely guarded state secret. It was used predominantly in priestly contexts to generate flame and explosive sounds (in conjunction with earlier practices of generating multicolored flames with use of other chemicals), then integrated into combustible weaponry in the forms of fire lances, which would eventually develop into early handcannons.

The treatment of gunpowder as a guarded sacred or semi-sacred substance continued with Wardi adoption, where knowledge of its making is considered a closed rite. It's name (inya tsatsul or just tsatsul, a derived adoption of the Burri iñazatsūya) still reflects a divine solar association (the Burri word means 'sun's thunder', the Wardi 'inya' invokes the sun, 'tsatsul' is an adapted loanword and has no meaning independent of the substance itself), though its priestly use is now predominantly associated with the firearm'ed Odonii (rather than priests of the solar Face Inyamache). The composition of gunpowder can no longer be regarded as a Secret by any means, though efforts to obscure the methods of its creation are still moderately successful and has kept knowledge of gunpowder manufacture more limited than the total sphere of firearm usage itself.

The actual strongest limiting factor of firearm usage is the rarity of natural saltpeter deposits necessary for making gunpowder. The practice of actively producing saltpeter via nitraries has not been developed anywhere in the setting, and all is instead obtained via natural sources. These sources are rare and limited within the current spread of firearm technology, and result in gunpowder being a limited and expensive substance to produce. The weapons themselves are also very expensive to manufacture (a good quality steel SWORD is far too material-cost prohibitive for most people to own), particularly high quality firearms designed for use with standardized ammunition.

These guns are also very basal, and logistical difficulties in their use (weight, very slow loading and firing speed, high visibility, Relatively low reach and accuracy) along with the restrictive cost of production has kept firearms far from rendering conventional weaponry, armor, and projectiles obsolete (even within the societies that have access to them). They are still, however, very devastating in use within their contemporary context, particularly in that high quality guns have a longer range than the best arrow-based projectiles, and utterly negate most contemporary forms of armor at close range.

[incorrect-dungeon-meshi]

Senshi: It took me 28 minutes and a lot of tears, but I can now almost use a computer.  

[see-arcane]

Do you think a Carmilla adaptation set in the modern day could hypothetically work? I know that outside of the web series (which was doing its own thing) the ones that try to go for a more contemporary setting haven't been particularly good.

I guess the biggest hurdle with that would be coming up with a way for Millie to hang around at Laura's place because faking a car crash or something would just lead to her dad calling an ambulance.

The thing that made Carmilla's stranding with Laura and her household was a very particular set of environmental needs.

The household must be in a remote area, far from heavy human population. A small community is still needed for Carmilla to eventually feed on, but nothing very peopled or close.

Carmilla's crew needs to be convincing and non-suspicious when leaving Carmilla behind with strangers as they themselves move on for an ongoing period. They do this with zero contact made between them and Laura's dad, and with no names to investigate.

While extremely tricky, these factors aren't impossible to play with.

First, remoteness. A remoteness without the modern ability to, say, drive an ailing girl to aid or contact emergency services, et cetera. This location has to be in deep countryside or wilderness. Could be a home or a vacation place, assuming we're keeping Laura's dad well-off. Regardless, it's a spot chosen for its privacy and distance from people. I'd lean toward mountainous terrain for dual points of beauty and being just Real fucking difficult to maneuver on.

Next, "Why are you ditching your daughter with us??" This is the hardest bit in the 21st century. Everyone is plugged in. Everyone demands contact info. You couldn't bullshit a single survivalist hermit living in a cave into believing that you know not what these cellular devices are, good sir. You don't just show up in the middle of the night, chuck an adolescent at the porch and run. No, not even with theatre quality con job carriage/car crashes. Because emergency services are a thing and people would be on the phone/piling her in another, non-busted vehicle to get her to a hospital before you could finish acting out your script.

We need to pile up more elements.

Say, one involving inhospitable weather. Flash flood rain. A burying snowstorm that makes even a helicopter too dangerous to fly. Something that obstructs all travel and, ideally, really does crap out the phone and Internet service.

My thought: It shifts to a story taking place in winter, on a mountainside, with Carmilla no longer a poor ailing damsel act, but a simple visitor from some fancy holiday lodge. She and her family are vacationing up here and she is so terribly bored. Might she make friends ;) with Laura in the meantime? But what's this! Oh no! A snowstorm has dropped in and she can't possibly repeat her trek back home in such weather.

A crackling phone call is staged between her and her 'family' as it comes across in sputters and static that yes, yes, she's safe, Laura's dad insists, it's all fine, she can stay until conditions improve. The phone cuts out (from the family's side) and the Internet goes down. Cue the conditions being The Shining-level isolating. The girls make the best of it, of course. <3

Until the bodies start piling up.

ANYWAY

It wouldn't be the exact premise, no, because an exact translation of almost any period piece lit story can't be replicated in a modern era. Too much has changed, too many obstructions sit between the original story and its payoff. All that can be kept is the core of the narrative and whatever factors can either be translated or built upon to make the main ideas still function.

[wishchip106]

fork found in kitchen what else is new 😒

[thisisrealy2kok]

Sanoxy PC USB Dual Controller Adapter Converter Compatible with PS1,2,3,PSX

[lucraven]

New au just dropped 😈🙏

[cau-lee-flower215]

literally twisters is gonna do so much for the hangster population- not only are we getting more cowboy!jake, it’s launching open the doors for freaking tornado chaser aus which is the coolest thing ever

[nostalgiahime]

Gameboy Advance Link Cable & Adapter Flyer (2001) [✩]

[flowercrowncrip]

In happier news I got a smart thermostat and can control my own heating now!

ID: a screenshot of a phone showing a thermostat app. The goal temperature is 20 degrees and it is currently 18.9 degrees. The humidity is 52% / end ID.

Before I had to instruct my carers how to use the thermostat and timer despite not being able to see the controls, so this is a huge step up!

[silencehysterical]

Table of approximate life years of the characters in the Hazbin Hotel

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13P-IBVWjQCxdTBugDELkhP3F_iyFwNqSTmufVLmV__8/edit?usp=drivesdk

Made it because many people don’t seem to realize that a huge part of the characters were alive at the same time