2021-09-24 Nerd Roundup
Tech topics this week included property-based testing, 747s stuffed full of cruise missiles, polygenic testing, fluid solvers, nuclear thermal rockets, and much more.
Greg Young dropped by and we had a hooting, hooting hella good time.
There were several topics I wished we had more time for. After the show, Greg and I continued discussing the FBI's super phone.
| STORY | BUT WHY? |
| America’s plan to build 747 arsenal ships packed with cruise missiles | Neat piece of historical trivia also pointing out that like the USV/container idea, COTS products can be as deadly or more deadly than expensive gear under the right circumstances. The trick is the cheapest fastest way to make those circumstances real |
| The new warrant: how US police mine Google for your location and search history | Geofence warrants, reverse-search warrant. We've come a long, long way since pen registers |
| What is property based testing | This seems to be an up and coming hot topic with some folks in the functional community |
| There are six internet links on my office on wheels. Seven when Starlink arrives. Is this the best internet in Australia? | It ain't minimalist, but it's a thing of beauty. Bonus points for the app that splits bandwidth. Definitely picking that one up |
| Science is not just philosophy | "...The anti-science perspective also consistently misses the fact that we need to make decisions, even when our knowledge is incomplete and imperfect...." this essay, along with the chasm essay I did, is a good introduction to info-ops. There is no 'we' as the author would wish, in this discussion, we are all, instead, left ultimately and happily inside our own bodies to make our own choices. The way this guy is wrong, the conflating of the personal and the public, the practice and the theory, the tool (math) and the language? It's extremely important |
| Welcome Polygenically Screened Babies | Noticed Paul graham tweeting on this topic. Looks like super nerdy bio-gentics topic that nobody is talking about |
| ve been working on optimizing the Zibra fluid solver | Three million particles in realtime at 40+FPS? Wow! |
| The future of ‘next generation’ DNA sequencing | Overview of the super cool new tech being used for genome sequencing, with a look to the kinds of impact it might have |
| As a solo developer, I decided to offer phone support, and this is what happened | Yes, yes. More of this, please. One of the best things any developer or team can do is get the hell out of their own heads and code and talk to the people they're trying to help |
| How much money does the FBI have to destroy before it's a problem? | |
| MORE CASIO WATCH MODS (LCD COLORS, TRANSPARENT DISPLAY, MICRO SD, STRAP REMOVER) | Hacking your Casio $20 watch to have cool new features? I initially ignored this article, but dang, that looks fun! |
| Ex-U.S. intel operatives admit hacking American networks for UAE | This story has been percolating for years and needs more recognition. You build backdoors and capabilities, people use them to do things you probably aren't going to like. People want to argue these things in isolation, with the think-of-the-kids argument or the ticking bomb argument, but it's not right to limit the disucssion to just those scenarios |
| The physics anomaly no one talks about: What’s up with those neutrinos? | I like neutrinos, don't you? What's wrong with all the neutrino hate? These are the little guys that are finally going to bring the holy grail of new physics and change reality as we know it! :) |
| A New DARPA Contract Brings Us One Step Closer to Nuclear Thermal Spaceflight | Follow-up from last week and many other discussions. Of note, nuclear thermal is different than plain electric rockets with twice as much potential. Can plasma catch up with some sort of plasma jet? Is there an afterburner concept for either of them? |
| Scientists make the smallest-ever man-made flying devices inspired by propeller seeds | Flying machines the size of a grain of sand? Whoa horsey |
| ‘Every message was copied to the police’: the inside story of the most daring surveillance sting in history | Neat. Secret agenc stuff |
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