Tuesday January 31st, 2023
Eeenteresting: Mercedes-Benz is the first to bring Level 3 automated driving to the US
The company’s Drive Pilot system is approved for use in Nevada, but only at speeds up to 40 mph. You can play Tetris while cruising down the highway, but make sure your face stays visible to the camera, or the system disengages.
The kicker, though, is that in Nevada it's self-certification, so... uh...
Mail from Mike McGuire crowing about $330M for various automobile projects, including fixing "the nightmare at the Highway 101/580 interchange" and The Novato Narrows "once and for all"...
And $40M for the SMART train. So, yeah, throwing money at induced demand nightmares is popular right now. But at least Marin will be able to continue to import its lower-income workers who can afford to drive there.
Monday January 30th, 2023
One thing to understand about police "reform" is that, if you have to teach someone that it's wrong to brutally beat an innocent person to death, you can't
actually teach them that it's wrong to brutally beat an innocent person to death.
Today I learned about the "Epley Maneuver" for solving certain sorts of vertigo.
Boy howdy, the number of white people I know who though the 2020 protests were over-reactions and structural racism wasn't a problem who are, now that it's Black cops, talking about police reform is not lost on me. I hope I can find ways to help them see themselves more clearly.
Sunday January 29th, 2023
The more traditional fence my neighbor Derek built for my band saw, for @brainwagon@mastodon.social . We used this for resawing some rough walnut, mostly demonstrating that I need a beefier saw. Takes some adjusting on the blade position on the wheels, and I need to build some knobs for those bolts that hold it on.
My point bandsaw fence, for @brainwagon@mastodon.social . I like this style for resawing because I don't have to try to align the blade to the fence, though the clamping is clumsy and I should rework it to use the bolts on the table side.
Previously I'd set up a bunch of jigs to route out the recesses in wall plates and did a bunch at a whack. These days I'm just knocking them out freehand as I need 'em.
* Contemporary flush door with the
beauty of natural wood grain
* Comes primed and ready to paint
It's time for my CALLERLAB renewal, which means I've been doing some soul searching over square dance calling, and directions to take the hobby that might grow it, or at least attract the sort of community j want to build around me.
This article about a young woman keeping a Candlepin Bowling Alley running has me thinking about the callers who go with Trad vs MWSD... https://www.gpb.org/news/2023/...save-candlepin-bowling-tradition
And cutting the circle...
You can see the remnants of my first the attempts to build that disk, before I went a different direction.
A shot of the back, still need to tweak some of those brass bits.
A way to go, but it's starting to come together. Got a lot of epoxy squeeze out to sand...
Doh. Uploading with a better name... Take 2
Doh. Uploading with a better name...
This has been one hell of a project so far. The intent is to replace that ugly plastic vent fan louver with something more appropriate to the space.
Saturday January 28th, 2023
I need a T-shirt that says "ANTIFA" in the same font as those "ATF" or "POLICE" or whatever windbreakers that cops wear.
Friday January 27th, 2023
Given that US truck manufacturers have stopped making small pickups, and my Ranger is going to become too expensive to bother repairing at some point, I've been lusting after a Nobe 500.
But if Nobe doesn't build one of those, when my current truck finally dies... well... https://carfromjapan.com/cheap-used-truck-for-sale
So how long before we can start pointing to use of a Lambo on public roads as evidence of intent? Because it sure looks to me like the only reason to have such a thing is to drive unsafely, and if you've got it on a public road and not on a trailer, you're intending to intentionally endanger lives and property.
https://www.petaluma360.com/ar...-dui-after-crashing-into-3-park/
I believe that within a decade we're gonna view automobiles, especially internal combustion engine ones, as akin to cigarettes: Traffic pollution impairs brain function — First-in-the-world study suggests that even brief exposure to air pollution has rapid impacts on the brain
California DMV puts car titles on Tezos blockchain, consumer applications on the way.
Great, now someone can hack legal rights to my car.
CNet and BuzzFeed writing articles with ChatGPT has me thinking about how many links to those sites I've put on my blog over the years, and how in most cases what I really wanted was the original press release/kit that was worked into the story.
If "journalism" has been reduced to "rewrite the press release to introduce errors", what we need to do is bypass the monetization of that process altogether.
We are at the CIA admiring the attention to spelling
We are at the CIA admiring the attention to spelling
In Napa for the Lighted exhibition
Neuron: Virus exposure and neurodegenerative disease risk across national biobanks
Summary With recent findings connecting the Epstein-Barr virus to an increased risk of multiple sclerosis and growing concerns regarding the neurological impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we examined potential links between viral exposures and neurodegenerative disease risk. Using time series data from FinnGen for discovery and cross-sectional data from the UK Biobank for replication, we identified 45 viral exposures significantly associated with increased risk of neurodegenerative disease and replicated 22 of these associations. The largest effect association was between viral encephalitis exposure and Alzheimer’s disease. Influenza with pneumonia was significantly associated with five of the six neurodegenerative diseases studied. We also replicated the Epstein-Barr/multiple sclerosis association. Some of these exposures were associated with an increased risk of neurodegeneration up to 15 years after infection. As vaccines are currently available for some of the associated viruses, vaccination may be a way to reduce some risk of neurodegenerative disease.
RT sam @mardiroos@mastodon.social
The bouncer squints skeptically at the ID. "This really you?" he asks, half-jokingly.
"Well, no, it's not," Magritte says, "it's a representation of--"
Just posted a "Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter." reply to someone, and realized how dated that joke is now.
I mean, "Substack" almost has the same connotations, but there are just enough apparently non-cranks on that platform that .... maybe?
Thursday January 26th, 2023
Greater Greater Washington: Analysis: E-bike subsidies are more cost- effective than EV subsidies
Putting it differently, if Maryland had invested its $8.5 million in e-bikes in the same way DC’s legislation proposes, instead of in ZEVs and hybrids, it would have saved almost triple the gasoline miles: about 5.7 million at a cost of just $1.50 apiece. The 1.9 million gasoline miles it will save under current law seems downright paltry in comparison.
Just closing tabs: Streetsblog: The Dangers of Driving Are Way More Normalized Than We Think
PsyArxIv preprints: Motornomativity: How Social Norms Hide a Major Public Health Hazard
Abstract Decisions about motor transport, by individuals and policy-makers, showu nconscious biases due to cultural assumptions about the role of private cars - a phenomenon we term motonormativity. To explore this claim, a national sample of 2157 UK adults rated, at random, a set of statements about driving (“People shouldn't drive in highly populated areas where other people have to breathe in the car fumes”) or a parallel set of statements with key words changed to shift context ("People shouldn't smoke in highly populated areas where other people have to breathe in the cigarette fumes"). Such context changes could radically alter responses (75% agreed with "People shouldn't smoke..." but only 17% agreed with "People shouldn't drive..."). We discuss how these biases systematically distort medical and policydecisions and give recommendations for how public policy and health professionals might begin to recognise and address these unconscious biases in their work.
Matt Keeter: Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Branch Predictor
I've been writing a lot of AArch64 assembly, for reasons.
I recently came up with a "clever" idea to eliminate one jump from an inner loop, and was surprised to find that it slowed things down. Allow me to explain my terrible error, so that you don't fall victim in the future.
RT Max Pearl @pearlbear@social.overlappingmagisteria.org
This is a really interesting study. When Black newborns are cared for by Black physicians, their "clinical penalty" that is the difference in mortality from white newborns is halved.
What's fascinating, if you dive in, is that this is despite the fact that Black physicians tend to have higher caseloads, and also tend to serve more underresourced patients.
Things that make you go hmmmmm...
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1913405117
HT: @TheRaDR
Physician–patient racial concordance and disparities in birthing mortality for newborns
Wednesday January 25th, 2023
Stored for future reference CBC: 'Deny, deflect, distract': How Russia spreads disinformation about the war in Ukraine.
Puff piece on StopFake.org.
Thinking about this a lot in terms of subsidies and policies: RT David Gerard @davidgerard@circumstances.run
serving my needs is neutral, serving your needs is politics
The sale of ADS-B Exchange to JETNET reinforces that we need a protocol for aggregating and exchanging amateur sensor network data that doesn't let one corruptible party get in the middle of that process. https://www.jetnet.com/news/jetnet-acquires-ads-b-exchange.html
More evidence that the war on cars is just a capitalist plot to help retail recover: Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis
Topology of cat and location of leg is confusing.
"We appreciate the new bike lanes along Lakeville Highway" is suspiciously like "thank you for the pedestrian facilities behind them targets at the shooting range".
Seeing a lot of comments about how ChatGPT is "confidently giving wrong answers to people who aren't experienced enough to fact check it", and, yeah, we're automating the C Suite.
Holy shit! If you are buying theater tickets, *do not* click on any of the Google ads and make sure that you're clicking on the real site, which may be well down in the search results. Like more than 2x for the same tickets.
Tuesday January 24th, 2023
GM just sent me an email telling me that two-factor authentication is coming. Um... yay, now it's gonna more of a hassle to schedule maintenance for the Bolt, I guess.
Fuuu... Accidentally loaded Twitter, and I'm so used to Mastodon now that I almost clicked on an ad.
no, *you're* prancing around the kitchen singing "🎶 if ya liked it then ya shoulda put a lid on it 🎶"
#AllTheSingleLadles #Beyoncé #DoDoDooDoDoDoDo
Skiptracing Books, or: Shenanigans with KDP Paperbacks, how Amazon's print-on-demand operation is screwing authors.
Monday January 23rd, 2023
The Petaluma Police Department has set up a challenge. I didn't stand out there long enough to record a high score.
(Description: 15 MPh recommended curve speed warning sign next to a speed radar sign trailer with a 30 MPH speed limit, displaying 30.)
Hard to find a good pull quote from this one, because by the time it gets down into the meat of things there are so many good citations about long-term negative impacts on companies doing layoffs that narrowing it down to a paragraph is difficult: HBR: What companies still get wrong about layoffs.
The findings of two decades of profitability studies are equivocal: The majority of firms that conduct layoffs do not see improved profitability, whether measured by return on assets, return on equity, or return on sales. Layoffs are especially hard on the performance of companies with a high reliance on R&D, low capital intensity, and high growth. Market response to layoffs was also less positive than might be expected, with three-day share prices of firms conducting layoffs generally neutral. Higher valuations were given for layoffs perceived as helping firms in financial distress return to profitability as well as those that were strategic and forward-looking. Layoffs undertaken only for the purpose of reducing costs tended to lead to drops in share price.
Why are there so many tech layoffs, and why should we be worried? Stanford scholar explains
As layoffs in the tech sector mount, Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer is worried. Research – by him, and others – has shown that the stress layoffs create takes a devastating toll on behavioral and physical health and increases mortality and morbidity substantially. Layoffs literally kill people, he said.
The Register: It's been 230 years since British pirates robbed the US of the metric system
In 1793, French scientist Joseph Dombey sailed for the newly formed United States at the request of Thomas Jefferson carrying two objects that could have changed America. He never made it, and now the US is stuck with a retro version of measurement that is unique in the modern world.
JWZ muses about the beginnings of Mozilla.org on the occasion of the 25th anniversary.
The Ohio chamber of commerce or somesuch runs these silly ads near tech centers, the SF Bay Area, Portland Oregon, etc, trying to get people to move to Ohio. They generally pretty solidly miss the mark, and I like to troll my Ohio friends with them.
This is a reminder that it's a global marketplace: Washington Post: Want to work from Spain? Apply for a new digital nomad visa.
Everything you need to know about Spain’s new program for remote workers
I like this framing: Roundball @shlenny@heads.social
#Crypto mining, prohibited in China moved to countries with laxer regulations such as the United States like the one out of the former Park Falls Pulp and Paper in #Wisconsin
The White House estimated the greenhouse gas footprint of electricity powering U.S. cryptocurrency production is equivalent to 3 million gas-powered automobiles. The United States now hosts about one-third of global Bitcoin asset mining, the report said."
The article is: In rural Wisconsin, former employees lift curtain on troubled crypto mine
Just a few links from doing a little background on the "Reagan created the homelessness problem" meme:
Justia summary of O'Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563 (1975)
Respondent, who was confined almost 15 years "for care, maintenance, and treatment" as a mental patient in a Florida state hospital, brought this action for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against petitioner, the hospital's superintendent, and other staff members, alleging that they had intentionally and maliciously deprived him of his constitutional right to liberty. The evidence showed that respondent, whose frequent requests for release had been rejected by petitioner notwithstanding undertakings by responsible persons to care for him if necessary, was dangerous neither to himself nor others, and, if mentally ill, had not received treatment. Petitioner's principal defense was that he had acted in good faith, since state law, which he believed valid, had authorized indefinite custodial confinement of the "sick," even if they were not treated and their release would not be harmful, and that petitioner was therefore immune from any liability for monetary damages. The jury found for respondent and awarded compensatory and punitive damages against petitioner and a codefendant. The Court of Appeals, on broad Fourteenth Amendment grounds, affirmed the District Court's ensuing judgment entered on the verdict.
KQED: Did the Emptying of Mental Hospitals Contribute to Homelessness?
Between January 1st, 2020 and December 31st, 2021, 3,814,479 participants were included in the study (888,463 cases and 2,926,016 controls). After matching, the COVID-19 cohort exhibited significantly higher risks of rheumatoid arthritis (aHR:2.98, 95% CI:2.78–3.20), ankylosing spondylitis (aHR:3.21, 95% CI:2.50–4.13), systemic lupus erythematosus (aHR:2.99, 95% CI:2.68–3.34), dermatopolymyositis (aHR:1.96, 95% CI:1.47–2.61), systemic sclerosis (aHR:2.58, 95% CI:2.02–3.28), Sjögren's syndrome (aHR:2.62, 95% CI:2.29–3.00), mixed connective tissue disease (aHR:3.14, 95% CI:2.26–4.36), Behçet's disease (aHR:2.32, 95% CI:1.38–3.89), polymyalgia rheumatica (aHR:2.90, 95% CI:2.36–3.57), vasculitis (aHR:1.96, 95% CI:1.74–2.20), psoriasis (aHR:2.91, 95% CI:2.67–3.17), inflammatory bowel disease (aHR:1.78, 95%CI:1.72–1.84), celiac disease (aHR:2.68, 95% CI:2.51–2.85), type 1 diabetes mellitus (aHR:2.68, 95%CI:2.51–2.85) and mortality (aHR:1.20, 95% CI:1.16–1.24).
Sunday January 22nd, 2023
Fucked up my third attempt at this fan louver, so decided that gluing up a solid piece and trying to rout it out was a bad strategy. Trying lapped pieces for the face this time.
At Aqus for the Damon Connolly meet and greet.