Monthly Archives: September 2021

Experiments on a $50 DIY air purifier you can make in 30s

Posted on 2021-09-02 by pappp

Source: Hacker News

Article note: One of the lessons I hope endures from the pandemic is that indoor air quality and circulation tends to be _terrible_.
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Qemu’s Macintosh Quadra in alpha usability! (runs A/UX!)

Posted on 2021-09-02 by pappp

Source: Fun with virtualization

Article note: Sweet! Mac68k emulation low-level enough to run A/UX is a rare thing. A/UX is, as ever, a fussy bitch, but it looks like the QEMU setup is not making it any fussier.

I’m being a bit unfair as far as Alpha’s go it’s rough to get going but wow it’s GREAT! For starters it’s a Quadra 800 so System 7.1 through 8.1 will work. Also this has full 68040 capabilities so yes

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The Future Needs Files

Posted on 2021-09-02 by pappp

Source: Hacker News

Article note: Everything that _isn't_ built on the file abstraction is a roach-motel. _IF_ there was a credible substitute (which, frankly, some of the DB-like file systems could have been) it would be one thing, but in practice non-file-abstraction designs are always radically disempowering. I've been making this argument for _years_.
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Lawmakers weigh education options amid COVID-19 surge

Posted on 2021-09-01 by pappp

Source: Kentucky.com -- State

Article note: They're going to dither until hospital capacities force their hand, and then come up with wherever the winds were blowing at that point. Someone needs to communicate to policymakers that a good in-person class and a good remote class have different cadence, and different material choices, and different delivery methods, so you CAN NOT switch back and forth or do both at once and expect it to work. I'm totally onboard that NTI isn't working for many younger students, and the _ways_ in which it isn't working amplify inequity, but just sending kids home with nothing when too many students and staff get infected is not better, and we're coming up on 25 districts that have done that for at least a week now. The limbo-state isn't tractable for teachers (which, along with normal kids passing diseases around becoming a mortal threat, is probably why so many have left), and isn't tractable for parents who need to arrange for childcare when the schools fall over.

Keeping students learning in their classrooms should be the overarching goal of any education policies responding to disruptions caused by COVID-19, a key lawmaker said Wednesday. With more Kentucky school … Click to Continue »

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Joe Rogan, A Podcasting Giant Who Has Been Dismissive of Vaccination, Has Covid

Posted on 2021-09-01 by pappp

Source: NYT > World

Article note: Of fucking course Broprah got the 'rona, he hangs out with the kind of dumb shits who pass it around, and nods along with their bullshit. And of course he got it while touring during a pandemic, in Florida where the worst of it is happening due to mismanagement. And of course he got expensive treatments, both ones that aren't accessible to most people (monoclonal antibodies) and that have failed to be effective in study after study but the bro-science types believe in (ivermectin) instead of shutting the fuck up, getting vaccinated, and not traveling.

“I got fevers, sweats, and I knew what was going on,” he said in a video on Instagram on Wednesday, after returning from a series of shows in Florida.

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The time a human-driven car ran over an autonomous robot

Posted on 2021-09-01 by pappp

Source: The Verge - All Posts

Article note: I've seen these cute little things trundling around campus and was awaiting this headline. ...And it really was at UK that someone hit one with an SUV.
Starship Technologies delivery robot
Image: Starship Technologies

Crossing city streets filled with SUV drivers in a hurry is tricky for any pedestrian, but what about a robot that’s less than two feet tall? Starship Technologies is flooding college towns with autonomous electric delivery bots that trundle goods to your location in their locked storage compartment. While the safety of human pedestrians around large vehicles with autonomous capabilities is still being debated, this time, the roles were reversed. As shown in a video posted to TikTok by rach,ipsa, even a couple of lights plus cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors, and neural networks weren’t enough for this robot to avoid getting clipped by a Ford Escape.

@rach.ipsa

Reply to @cody_offic it's about as wonderful as you imagined

♬...

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