Nick @internic@qoto.org

FDA proposes ditching common decongestant for being completely useless
Last year, FDA advisors unanimously voted that oral phenylephrine is ineffective.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2024/11/fda-proposes-ditching-common-decongestant-for-being-completely-useless/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Where are you finding hope today? Today, my class discussed public goods with network effects — goods that don't exclude people and that benefit everyone as more people access them. One of those things is education.

When my mother was born in the 1940s, around 70% of Americans over 25 didn't have a high school education. Now over 90% have finished high school.

That's an extraordinary expansion in human capability in a very short time period.

https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/time-series/demo/cps-historical-time-series.html

sharp uptick in death threats today so just a lil reminder to maybe consider your words when interacting w your fave progressives, lol

I don't mind getting hired to scare people, because a) it's not very hard and b) it does drive home some very important points that don't get talked about enough. Like how most breaches start with social engineering of one form or another.

But I'm not interested in speaking about how great technology is, because it mostly sucks, and or the implementation of it is completely fumbled. And I'm deeply suspicious of any kind of effort to say that everything's just fine, no need to panic, etc. Fucking panic already.

E.g., the past couple of years have clearly shown that the code powering a ton of the endpoint security hardware out there today is complete cruft, meaning a significant share of the user base is constantly subject to zero-day attacks.

It's kind of like virtual currencies. If I thought for a minute that they were on balance doing more good than massive harm, I wouldn't mind saying so. I'd put current AI efforts in that bucket as well.

Post-Quantum Cryptography in OpenPGP - an IETF draft

#openpgp #pgp #postquantum

🔗 https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-openpgp-pqc/

Somehow today my incredible wife is currently writing yet another grant application for the program she directs that funds and mentors diverse transfer students and gives them roles in science (thereby opening a pathway to a full science career to people who are usually blocked by our systems at the very start). NIH funding for programs like this was already cut this year and obviously all such diversity programs are first on the chopping block like never before. But on she writes. Relentless.

At the time I got married, 13 years ago, I lived in a flat. I liked it cos it was a short walk from the train station. Good for getting home after late nights out.

My wife moved in. One day she said, "The only problem with this flat is that it's a long walk from the station."

Long?

Turns out it's short if you go thru the woods & by the dark underpass, a route a woman would never think of taking.

And that was my 1st lesson in how we inhabit the same space but live in different worlds.

Powerful words from true journalists at @ProPublica

"We face the biggest test of our professional lives. Now we get to see if we really meant it when we said we will hold power to account. Will we do so when our subjects have true power on their side and a willingness to use it? We may be harassed. We may be sued. We may be threatened with violence. We may be ignored. Are we just sunshine journalists or are we ready?"

#journalism

https://www.propublica.org/article/second-trump-administration-investigative-journalism

Global life expectancy is rising again, after the shock of COVID-19
In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic caused an estimated 15 million more deaths globally, but by 2022 average global life expectancy roughly matched the 2019 rate–and in 2023, it reached new highs. This has happened in all world regions. Our World in Data
https://buff.ly/4ftrsAf
#ShareGoodNewsToo

If Harris wins, it will be despite intense GOP voter suppression efforts in key states, supported by Russian bomb threats to polling places.

When Russia's pushes this hard on our electoral system, you should vote against the candidate that Russia likes.

https://wapo.st/3AuTX1K

IMPORTANT: If you’re turned away at the polls because your name is not on the register, don’t walk away.

Your response [verbatim] should be: “Give me a provisional ballot with a receipt, as required by law.”

Don’t let them steal your vote.

Good morning.

Please vote.

There's a special place in hell reserved for those who unleash spam or DDoS attacks on non-profits and independent #Mastodon instances. It's like kicking puppies in a digital playground. These instances are often lovingly nurtured by individuals in the community spirit, offering a refuge from the Big Tech. Why anyone would want to rain on their parade with spam or try to knock them offline with a DDoS attack is beyond me. It just doesn't make any sense. Also, donate to your instances if you can.

Please, well meaning sighties! I know you have good intentions. But please, please don't let AI bots do your alt text. As a blind screen reader user I have no way to know whether the generic descriptions describe anything meaningful or accurate. In the meantime, you're flooding my timeline with AI garbage. I've already started unfollowing people because of their firehose of AI alt text. Thankyou

I like India, visit regularly, & am impressed by their space ambitions.

But these stories about how amazingly cheap & cost effective their missions are misleading.

For example, the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission cost 6.2 billion rupees which translates to a nominally low €68 million.

But the bulk of the cost of a space mission is in personnel & the average aerospace engineer salary in India is ~10% of the European or US equivalent.

Now make the comparison again 🤷‍♂️

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9xlgnnpzvo

A portion of an email received from U.S. Navy SEAL veteran Dan Barkhuff of Veterans For Responsible Leadership.

“We have no idea how close this election will be, and every ballot is critical. We will win if we vote and in so doing, show coming generations that when America was offered the choice between sloth, venality, and cruelty, we chose to continue trusting American citizens to choose their own leaders.
Vote Harris. It matters more than we can possibly imagine.
Together, we can do this.”

Unfortunately, our university is discontinuing personal web pages for academics for incomprehensible reasons.

Fortunately, our department was allowed to set redirects to external web pages, so that the existing links still work.

My web page is now at gihub, accessible from the original links.

Astronomers urge FCC to halt satellite megaconstellation launches
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/astronomers-urge-fcc-to-halt-satellite-megaconstellation-launches?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

I asked where people who encounter problems voting (e.g. right wing intimidation) can get help. Commenters responded with great suggestions:

https://mastodon.social/deck/@dangillmor/113422864462475308

Many thanks to you all!