My Favourite Computer, An Old Mac
October 8th, 2022Via: Muezza.ca:
This Macintosh Classic II wasn’t the best computer of its day, it wasn’t even the best Mac available at the time, but 30 years on and as its second owner it has unexpectedly become one of my favourite computers.
The Classic II sits on a desk in the corner of my living room, just beside my main front window. It takes up a small amount of space, is unassuming, and always looks happy, ready to serve me whenever I call on it.
…
This Mac was designed to be a useful machine, a companion when you needed it, but to leave you alone when you didn’t. When the power is switched off the machine is truly off, no background updates, noises, or other nonsense occurs.
This Mac has no form of notification system built in, it never begs for your attention and its applications never try to distract you from what you are doing, begging you to look at them instead. If I get distracted while using this Mac the fault lies squarely on me, not the computer and not the programs running on it.
This Mac is unchanging in a world where things change by the minute. It will never receive another software update and is thoroughly obsolete, but it’s comforting to have something that you know will stay the same forever, remaining in a known state every time you return to it.
When using this Mac I don’t have to worry about my data being stolen or being spied on. What happens between the Mac and myself stays between us. I can tell it my thoughts and my secrets without wondering if it’s going to share them with others, or with corporations.
Blast Damages Crimea Bridge, Key Supply Route in Russia’s War in Ukraine
October 8th, 2022Via: CBS:
An explosion caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia on Saturday, damaging a key supply artery for the Kremlin’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine. Russian authorities said a truck bomb caused the blast and that three people were killed.
Images on social media Saturday showed the Kerch Bridge, which has train and automobile sections, in flames. The railway bridge was ablaze and a section of the parallel road bridge collapsed into the sea.
Florida State Surgeon General: “84% Increase in the Relative Incidence of Cardiac-Related Death Among Males 18-39 Years Old Within 28 Days Following mRNA Vaccination”
October 7th, 2022Update: Twitter Censers FL Surgeon General Dr. Ladapo Then Backtracks After Public Backlash
Via: The Highwire:
The Florida Department of Health (FDH) conducted an analysis through a self-controlled case series, a technique originally developed to evaluate vaccine safety, and just announced some shocking results.
In a press release discussing the findings of the study and announcing the new mRNA Covid-19 vaccine guidance, FDH wrote, “This analysis found that there is an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination.”
Alongside the study’s publication and findings the state’s Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, has recommended against males aged 18 to 39 from receiving mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. “Those with preexisting cardiac conditions, such as myocarditis and pericarditis, should take particular caution when making this decision” reads the recent FDH press release.
A link to the study and a short description of it posted to Twitter by Dr. Ladapo was promptly deleted from the social media site because it “violated the Twitter rules” according to the company. Yet, after prompt public backlash, Twitter capitulated and reinserted the Tweet.
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I wonder if Twitter is going to ban the Surgeon General of Florida…
Today, we released an analysis on COVID-19 mRNA vaccines the public needs to be aware of. This analysis showed an increased risk of cardiac-related death among men 18-39. FL will not be silent on the truth.
Guidance: https://t.co/DcWZLoMU5E
Press Release: https://t.co/Y0r9yepi7F— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) October 7, 2022
Via: Florida Department of Health:
Today, State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo has announced new guidance regarding mRNA vaccines. The Florida Department of Health (Department) conducted an analysis through a self-controlled case series, which is a technique originally developed to evaluate vaccine safety.
This analysis found that there is an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination. With a high level of global immunity to COVID-19, the benefit of vaccination is likely outweighed by this abnormally high risk of cardiac-related death among men in this age group. Non-mRNA vaccines were not found to have these increased risks.
Army Set To Buy Computerized Rifle Sights For Shooting Down Drones
October 7th, 2022Via: The Warzone:
The U.S. Army has purchased SMASH 2000L computerized optical sight systems manufactured by the Israeli defense firm Smart Shooter. The company is highlighting the system’s counter-drone role, and both the Army and the U.S. Marine Corps have already acquired a limited number of older SMASH 2000 variants for this very purpose.
SMASH 2000L sights, with the ‘L’ standing for ‘light’, are designed for use on a variety of small arms to facilitate more accurate target engagement — basically shooting things with computer-aided precision.
Flashback: TrackingPoint
Scientists Uncover the “Chemistry Behind the Origin of Life”
October 7th, 2022Via: SciTechDaily:
Purdue University chemists have discovered a mechanism for peptide-forming reactions to occur in water — something that has baffled scientists for decades.
“This is essentially the chemistry behind the origin of life,” said Graham Cooks. He is the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry in Purdue’s College of Science. “This is the first demonstration that primordial molecules, simple amino acids, spontaneously form peptides, the building blocks of life, in droplets of pure water. This is a dramatic discovery.”
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Scientists have theorized for decades that life on Earth began in the oceans. However, the chemistry behind this remained an enigma. Raw amino acids — something that meteorites delivered to early Earth daily — can react and latch together to form peptides. These are the building blocks of proteins and, eventually, life. Strangely, the process requires the loss of a water molecule, which seems exceedingly improbable in a wet, aqueous, or oceanic environment. For life to form, it required water. However, it also needed space away from the water.
Cooks, an expert in mass spectrometry and early Earth chemistry, and his research team have uncovered the answer to the riddle: “Water isn’t wet everywhere.” On the margins, where the water droplet meets the atmosphere, extremely quick reactions can take place, transforming abiotic amino acids into the building blocks of life. Therefore, fertile landscapes for life’s potential evolution were in places where sea spray flies into the air and waves pound the land, or where fresh water burbles down a slope.
…
“The rates of reactions in droplets are anywhere from a hundred to a million times faster than the same chemicals reacting in bulk solution,” Cooks said.
CIA and U.S. Special Forces Are Operating in Ukraine
October 7th, 2022Via: The Intercept:
When it became clear that the agency’s predictions of a rapid Russian victory had been wrong, the Biden administration sent the clandestine assets that had been pulled out of Ukraine back into the country, the military and intelligence officials said. One U.S. official insisted that the CIA only conducted a partial withdrawal of its assets when the war began, and that the agency “never completely left.”
Yet clandestine American operations inside Ukraine are now far more extensive than they were early in the war, when U.S. intelligence officials were fearful that Russia would steamroll over the Ukrainian army. There is a much larger presence of both CIA and U.S. special operations personnel and resources in Ukraine than there were at the time of the Russian invasion in February, several current and former intelligence officials told The Intercept.
Secret U.S. operations inside Ukraine are being conducted under a presidential covert action finding, current and former officials said. The finding indicates that the president has quietly notified certain congressional leaders about the administration’s decision to conduct a broad program of clandestine operations inside the country.
How To Download All of Wikipedia Onto a USB Flash Drive in 2022
October 6th, 2022Despite the many problems with Wikipedia, it does contain a lot of useful information. If you live in an area that will not be incinerated by a nuclear fireball, this might come in handy at some point. (Assuming any computer gear that you plan to use hasn’t succumbed to EMP.)
Have a nice day!
Via: Planet of the Paul:
If you want to download Wikipedia onto a USB flash drive for offline access, you’ve come to the right place.
Study Links Omega-3s to Improved Brain Structure, Cognition at Midlife
October 6th, 2022Via: UT Health:
Eating cold-water fish and other sources of omega-3 fatty acids may preserve brain health and enhance cognition in middle age, new evidence indicates.
Having at least some omega-3s in red blood cells was associated with better brain structure and cognitive function among healthy study volunteers in their 40s and 50s, according to research published online Oct. 5 in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Faculty of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) and other investigators of the Framingham Heart Study conducted the analysis.
Even After $100 Billion, Self-Driving Cars Are Going Nowhere
October 6th, 2022Cryptogon 2019: Automakers Are Rethinking the Timetable for Fully Autonomous Cars:
In short, I asked him: Is this going to work?
No.
He’s confident that it’s not going to work under the current paradigm.
Via: Bloomberg:
“You’d be hard-pressed to find another industry that’s invested so many dollars in R&D and that has delivered so little,” Levandowski says in an interview.
The De-Population Bomb
October 6th, 2022Via: Hoover Institution:
