tobychev @tobychev@qoto.org

The mansion of the gods, Dunmanifestin on top the axle around which the Discworld spins, js so called because that's where the gods go when they're not acting directly in the world. Where they go when they are

Done

Manifesting.

Can't believe it's taken me decades to catch that one.

Every thing I think I have my head around what a shithole Florida is, they find a new way to shock me with their evil.

Here, instead of helping inmates get back on their feet, they're charging them $50/day for the cell they would be occupying if they had not been granted early release.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/pay-to-stay-florida-inmates-charged-for-prison-cells-long-after-incarceration

Global data center energy use is set to triple this year, from 15TWh last year to 46TWh this year.

That's on the order of what Serbia or Ireland consumes in a year.

Given that most of this demand is being driven by Nvidia GPU systems for AI compute and Nvidia is manufacturing capacity limited right now, with all available hardware being installed, we can expect that growth rate to continue, adding another ~30TWh next year — except that the next generation of hardware consumes even more power, so it could be more like an additional 40TWh, another Denmark or New Zealand. If Nvidia gets over their supply chain crunch, this could go much higher, assuming the market and grid can support it. Even with only linear growth, this would put us at ~285TWh by 2030, approximately the same as all of the UK.

It won't, of course — it's an obvious bubble and the infrastructure simply isn't there to support this, but it's a catastrophe in the making regardless.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-electric-utilities-brace-surge-power-demand-data-centers-2024-04-10/

On April 19, lawmakers in Togo's ruling party adopted a change to the Constitution, by a vote of 87-0, that eliminates citizens’ right to vote directly for the president of the republic. This allows President Faure Gnassingbé to extend his 19-year tenure in power, and his family’s 57-year dynastic rule.

Here's everything you need to know:
https://buff.ly/3JBajqB

This is such a brilliantly simple flaw, I can't believe I didn't think of it.

Maybe because it is brilliant. And simple.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/22/edr_attack_remote_data_deletion/

#security #malware

Keeps getting more crowded in the sky.

The Cosmos 2221 and TIMED satellites passed within < 10 m of each other on 2024 February 28; avoiding a collision only by the chance of their orientations.

https://www.space.com/nasa-timed-satellite-russian-space-junk-near-miss-february-2024

“Volkswagen workers at the carmaker’s Chattanooga plant in Tennessee have voted to unionize with the United Auto Workers, a historic victory for the union and the labor movement’s efforts to expand to the southern United States.” #UnionStrong https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/19/volkswagen-unionize-uaw-tennessee?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

And on we go.

https://newatlas.com/biology/life-merger-evolution-symbiosis-organelle

#Evolution

#EarlyModern #History needs your help! Bartmann / Bellarmine jugs were made in a very specific region of the rhineland between 1500 -1750 to be exported to England & the Netherlands. With colonial expansion they've found there way across the globe. Now an international research projects seeks to establish a comprehensive history & typology of the jugs. So if you have seen one of those shown in the Wanted Foto attached, get in touch with the researchers!
@histodons

https://fit.uni-tuebingen.de/Project/Details?id=10576

The share of voters who say they have high interest in the 2024 election has hit an all-time low for this same point in a US presidential race, according to the latest national NBC News poll, with majorities holding negative views of both Biden and Trump. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-biden-trump-tight-race-election-interest-low-rcna148170

After Novaya reports that Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov is terminally ill, his team releases this video showing him looking as lively as the title character in Weekend at Bernie’s. The camera movement reminds me of Spaceghost trying to breathe life into Ole Kentucky Shark. Context: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/04/22/chechnya-leader-ramzan-kadyrov-reportedly-suffering-from-pancreatic-necrosis

Ramzan Kadyrov is suffering from pancreatic necrosis, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe. The video of his teenage son beating up a defenseless prisoner last year was reportedly part of a wide-ranging campaign to divert attention from his health problems.
https://t.co/xbuQ09NLF1

The myth of "descriptivist" linguistics

I keep meeting students who feel they *must* test their variables for normality before analysis.

I tell them there's no need, & if the test tells them it's normal it's only because N is too small.

I decided to run some simulations to check, though, that e.g., t-tests degraded more for non-normal data & small Ns.

I was a bit surprised by the result: CI coverage degrades for normal vars just as badly as other symmetric dists, but skewed distributions do better.

https://brendanhalpin.net/blog/posts/testingnormality/

Since I see that a notable VC-famous is now telling us that he wish he'd "stood by" Eich way back, I'd like to tell you a true fact that situation: Eich didn't lose the CEO's job for his (reprehensible) Prop-8 donation.

Everyone wants to believe that's true, because fits nicely into narratives a number of invested camps want to believe, whether it's somebody being ousted for reprehensible views the woke SJW mob somehow pulling down a great leader (tm) but that's not what happened.

It turns out you don’t get to argue “code is law” if you exploit a loophole in poorly written smart contracts to steal $110 million.

I guess crypto advocates were wrong about that too 😮

SD:s partistyrelse kallar i läckt epost sina egna kommunföreträdare för "muppar". Folk som inte riktigt håller för att sitta i en nämnd brukar ibland bli erbjudna att tjänstgöra som nämndemän i tingsrätten i stället. SD utgår redan från början från ett svagt material, och när man gör sina allra svagaste kort till nämndemän, då snor de dasspappret på nämnemannatoaletten. Tyvärr fattar de ibland även utvisningsbeslut i strid med juristdomarens åsikt.

https://www.mitti.se/nyheter/sdpolitiker-doms-till-boter-efter-toapappersstold-6.3.217165.3db9d70cbf

#svpol

I've been working for a year to measure, for the first time, the effect of lawful crossings of the US Southwest border on unlawful crossings.

My study just came out at @piie —> https://www.piie.com/publications/working-papers/2024/effect-lawful-crossing-unlawful-crossing-us-southwest-border

With a less technical summary —> https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2024/offering-more-lawful-pathways-us-border-crossings-reduces-unlawful