@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

Ralph058

@Ralph058@techhub.social

Old spook and spy. DSc in Optical Sciences and Sensors. Worked in aerospace, medical device development, and ADAS. Mostly a good paying hobby. Retired for now. Playing with Computer Vision and DNNs. Whimsical outdoor railroad with gnomes, fairies, and dragons.

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smach, to climate
@smach@masto.machlis.com avatar

threat not often discussed:
“Pound for pound, gallon for gallon, hour-for-hour, the two-stroke gas powered engines in leaf blowers and similar equipment are vastly the dirtiest and most polluting kind of machinery still in legal use.

“According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the two-stroke leaf blowers and similar equipment in the state produce more ozone pollution than all of California’s tens of millions of cars, combined.”

  • James Fallows

https://fallows.substack.com/p/gas-powered-leaf-blowers-the-end

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@smach It's about time. These could be electric at 1/100 the noise pollution at the same power with no design changes and with appropriate "silent fan" technology, they could be reduced by another 1/10 to 1/100 multiple.
Now do gas powered lawn mowers.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is your dream road trip? Where would you start? Where would you end up? What stops would you make along the way? It can be short or long, whatever interests you!

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@RickiTarr My dream road trip would be to be able to a allow my brother to drive where ever he wants, when he wants with the car doing the work.

lauren, to random
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org avatar

Appeals court rules authorities can force you to biometrically unlock; what does this mean for passkeys?

While there have been conflicting rulings on this issue, The U.S. court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has just ruled that authorities can force you to unlock your devices that are locked using biometric authentication, in this case with a thumbprint.

The trend of court cases seems to be that forcing biometric unlocking is OK, but forcing you to reveal a password may not be in similar cases.

It's worth noting that since most passkey implementations require only the biometric unlock to become available, this would seem to give authorities full access to all accounts using such passkeys on the device. In contrast, if passkeys were not in use but passwords were saved in a password manager under a master password, access to those accounts would likely not be so easily obtained by authorities in such a situation.

Irrespective of whether or not you ever plan to be in such a situation, I still consider the single-layer biometric authentication model for passkeys to be risky, and this is another example why.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@lauren Except.
The "thumb" print can be any finger at any angle (within a few degrees).
With 10 digits and 8 angle ranges, this is 80 combinations.
Then there is the amount of force. If you push down too hard, it will not work. If you are just barely touching, it will not work.
Probably, one could conjure up even more ways to screw up the 'read' of the correct biometric.

QasimRashid, to random
@QasimRashid@mastodon.social avatar

Watching the bear vs man in forest stories & I remember when our 9-year-old son said some boys at recess offered to play with him if 'he hugged & kissed a girl.'

He replied, "No, that's inappropriate," & told us he didn't mind not being able to play with those boys after all. Later his teacher shared she was happy he stood up to peer pressure.

Y'all—it's never too early to teach boys about consent & boundaries. Have the convo. Then again. And again. Boys will be the boys we teach them to be.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@fifilamoura @QasimRashid I'll repeat a post I made from another thread:
"Just to set the record straight. I'm a guy. I grew up in the north woods. On the whole, if the critter making noise in brush is a bear, I'd feel a whole lot more comfortable than if it was a man.
On the whole, even men are safer meeting bears on a trail than other men. I don't know what the issue is."
In explanation.
Rustling in the bush: The bear is most likely going to try to get away. The man is most likely to attack.
In general:
Over 500 people are killed in the woods by men per year. Usually no more than one by bear.
I agree with @Okanogen in that I would be more concerned about a brown bear, except I would still take a bear if I didn't surprise him/her.

Free_Press, (edited ) to news
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

BREAKING NEWS 🚨

NYC says half of those arrested at 2 pro-Palestinian campus protests were not students, but outside sources
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #breaking #breakingnews

https://www.npr.org/2024/05/04/1249188864/nyc-columbia-city-college-gaza-protests-palestinian-campus

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@Free_Press Yes. NYC says that. NYPD says 30% were not students.
That does not mean they are "outside instigators" but rather outside sympathizers.

CliftonR, to random
@CliftonR@wandering.shop avatar

I had thought for decades that it was just not going to be worth switching from Windows to Linux for daily use.

Windows was just too ingrained in my habits and too easy for me to stick with.

This year, I've been introduced to a new product that's completely changed my mind about that:

Microsoft Windows 11

Microsoft, you've disregarded 10,000 rules of user interface design, and broken every trained movement of my fingers on keyboard or mouse. Windows is easy no more. Fuck you.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@Urban_Hermit @rlcw @CliftonR I am surprised that US Chamber of Commerce has not has not pushed for Medicare for All. For most industries, health insurance is a major portion of the overhead costs and it is increasing much faster than inflation. It would be in the best interest of most businesses to eliminate it and push it over into the income tax the employees pay.

rephlex00, to random
@rephlex00@beige.party avatar

Kinda crazy that artificial intelligence needs the entire output of a nuclear reactor but actual intelligence can run on Twix bars and cocaine, for example.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@rephlex00 You are confusing LLM from the rest of AI. Training an LLM would require the output of nuclear reactor. Once the model is extracted, it can and does run on a cell phone, albeit, it runs better when the processor has a special AI core.
Your cell phone use AI everyday for every thing you use it for.

ai6yr, to random

T-shirt seen today at our radio club.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@ai6yr @paninid Hell, when I was born computers were people.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@ellisgl @ramsey @ai6yr @paninid :0600:

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via the Lincoln Project:

He's doing this for two reasons 1) as a distraction from the fact Pecker laid out damning claims against him in criminal court today and 2) to remind his rabid MAGA base of who he really is.

#Trump: Charlottesville was a little peanut

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@GottaLaff According to Stormy, he is the little peanut

Strandjunker, to random
@Strandjunker@mstdn.social avatar

Just a thought: If a president violated the Espionage Act, all of his Supreme Court picks should automatically be removed and replaced.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@Strandjunker If the president is convicted of election interference, all of his appointments should be null and void.

mbonsma, to random
@mbonsma@mastodon.social avatar

Safety is the focus of this petition because people are being injured and killed right now. But there are so many other reasons to demand smaller vehicles, and here are some of them. 🧵
#DeadlyByDesign

https://mastodon.social/@mbonsma/112317556998235401

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@mbonsma I did a detailed analysis some 10 years ago that showed that 90 cents out of every gas tax dollar goes to fix damage done by 18 wheeler trucks.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Okay, a little mystery also for today. After the Toxic Club, my
brother and I got a strawberry limeade at a little drive inn, and drove around this Conservation Area, but then we start seeing this fence with these signs, it's like 8 foot tall with lots of the fence totally blacked out, and these signs placed on them that say:

Saline Valley Ranch, No Hunting, No Trespassing

This fence went for miles, and miles had to be incredibly pricey to put in, it reminded me of the fence they'd have at a minimum security prison, but we didn't see cows, horses, crops, nothing but woods and hills and miles and miles of giant fence.

We try to find information about what it is, but there's basically nothing. My husband looks it up on Google Earth, and finds Little Saline Ranch, and I look it up, and it says permanently closed, and even less information is available about that. Google Earth shows lots of wooded land, a lake, and a few open fields, but we couldn't see any buildings or animals, nothing like that.

So, looking up that I find this article about mysterious happenings in the area:

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/local/2018/10/31/hunting-ghosts-miller-county-other/9408986007

It mentions several people seeing a Bigfoot type cryptid in the area, so obviously the fence is to keep it in. My other guesses involve a government blacksite, as it isn't too far from and airforce base, or a doomsday cult, what do you all think?

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@RickiTarr Looks like a rabbit proof fence. Maybe there's a homesick Western Australian.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@RickiTarr Oh, the rabbit proof fence didn't stop them in Australia either. There were already just as many on one side as the other when it was built.
I don't know how the Dingo proof fence did.

Ralph058, to random
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

Something most people learn at a young age. Don't piss off people who know where you've buried all the bodies.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/miles-taylor-trump-business-myth_n_6625f207e4b08151cacaa281

joshuaphilll, to random
@joshuaphilll@spore.social avatar

I'm a Jew who's been afraid at Palestine protests.

Then, I learned more. I learned that I didn't know what people were chanting. I learned there was a lot to unlearn.

Then I decided I don't want my identity used to shield a genocidal apartheid state.

https://www.jphilll.com/p/being-afraid-does-not-mean-youre

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@joshuaphilll Most American gun owners would disagree with the premise. That is the raison d'etre for their ownership.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via Roger Parloff:

jurors' news sources. (More watch BBC than Fox. Not one reads NY Daily News--ouch.) From
nytimes:
https://bit.ly/3xKEg4L

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@GottaLaff I'm concerned about #1 reading Daily Mail.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@GottaLaff Especially where it's their only source of news.

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@JeanPoole_AZ @GottaLaff In New York, the first seat is the foreman. There is no election.

dangillmor, to random
@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar

Why are so many (legal) drugs in short supply? Because a cartel of pharmaceutical middlemen have rigged the market to ensure shortages.

Monopolies/oligopolies are killing people, deliberately, and the law -- including the lawmakers in Congress -- keeps letting them get away with it.

https://prospect.org/health/2024-04-17-our-uniquely-american-drug-shortages/

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@dangillmor Biden needs to declare that the lack of readily available drugs affects defense readiness in an EO. Then, he needs to give a 30 day notice that if production is not increased, he will invoke the Defense Production Act.
At the same time, he needs to have the FDA examine which of these drugs were developed with taxpayer money and transfer their patent to the government and send out an RFP for production.

bacchus1234, to random
@bacchus1234@mastodon.social avatar

https://www.salon.com/2024/04/17/sleepy-dons-dilemma-napping-in-could-help-win-the-case-but-it-hurts-him-with-his-base/

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@bacchus1234 I hope he does "storm out of the courtroom". He will find that orange is indeed the new black.

inquiline, to random
@inquiline@union.place avatar

People are wrong on the internet, ♾️

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@inquiline Yes, but I've deleted my Twitter and Facebook accounts and don't see them.

wdlindsy, to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

Isn't it … odd … that Trump just "happened" to meet an adoring devotee at Chick-Fil-A in Atlanta, a Black woman who hugged him, proving that Black people are just head over heels in love with Trump –

And she turns out to be an employee of the Georgia GOP?

All staged to create viral videos and all deeply insulting to African American voters, with the implication that they can be easily deceived and manipulated.

#Trump #fraud

https://www.meidastouch.com/news/trumps-viral-hug-at-chick-fil-a-was-with-maga-operative

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@wdlindsy Anybody with half a brain, I know this leaves out all of MAGA, knows that she couldn't get that close without being cleared by USSS

Ralph058, to random
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

Just a note on unions and royalties.
If you are an independent artist and your royalties suck. Consider ASCAP and BMI as unions. They negotiate for all artists. This is how streaming platforms get by screwing the independent artist. They don't have to face a million dollar lawsuit.

RealJournalism, to random
@RealJournalism@mastodon.social avatar

The walls are closing in. Now, short sellers are targeting shares of Truth Social. https://moguldom.com/456870/short-sellers-look-to-profit-from-collapse-of-trumps-truth-social-stock-5-things-to-know/

Ralph058,
@Ralph058@techhub.social avatar

@ShiitakeToast @lin11c @RealJournalism I had a friend (in 2008) who was a daytrader. When she started complaining about a few things, I told her she would have to be trading short if she wanted to make money. (I didn't know what it was called and had to describe the process. But several things were tanking)
She was over leveraged and couldn't do it. Lost a ton.

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