tingilinde

the chinese version of the gop

Of of course their machine has firmly established control, but the lying is similar.

a tip of the hat to Roland

 

 

if there are book bans

The Bible is clearly pornographic.  So many places, but here's a dildo reference:  (tip of the hat to Chris)

Ezekiel 16:17

King James Bible

Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

New Revised Standard Version (for once following the KJV's lead)

You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver that I had given you, and made for yourself male images, and with them played the whore;

New International Version (for once being more direct, and closer to the Hebrew)

You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.

International Standard Version (hitting the nail closer to the head)

You also took your fine jewelry—including my gold and my silver that I had given you. Then you made for yourself male images and had sex with them!

 

 

security and tiktok

TikTok clearly is a security risk to users, but the same can be said for Instagram, YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter (especially Twitter!), Amazon and so many other services that lawmakers are unwilling to address. I wouldn't argue for a TikTok ban, but rather for solid privacy and security rules.  Of coure hell would freeze over first.

 

life in post-roe america

When Christian fascism rules, women are mere vessels with few rights.  

Here's a look ahead.

a tip of the hat to Jeri

Here's Alexandra Petri's piece from awhile back on the subject.  It deserves a reposting

snip

...

t was hard to believe the time was running out. Maybe it would not, after all. It had been so long — nearly 49 years, with a few scares along the way — that the illusion had held, that she was a citizen, a person with rights to be respected in her own right. That not merely her life was worthy of protection, but also her ability to make choices for her own future. That she was just as good as any state legislator, and possessed certain rights they could not abridge!

Those 49 years had flown by. But when the court’s clock struck, her run would in all likelihood begin to end. She would stop being a person with autonomy over her own body that the law was bound to respect. She would go back to being a vessel that might potentially contain a person, a vessel whose rights ended once that possibility was considered.

...

 

 

 

 

hillel einhorn's epiphany

David Epstein mentioned Hillel Einhorn's epiphany about happiness - something triggered by a fortune cookie.

 

 

 

 

montana youth and climate change

Some teenagers sue the state over its fossil fuel promotion. The state constitution makes this interesting, but given Montana's hard turn to the right in the past decade and judges, it seems unlikely,  Still..

 

 

on the quantum gravity wormhole

Almost all of the initial descriptions were wrong or poorly written.  Now it appears that the experiment may have been wrong in the first place.  

Science is doing its job

 

 

 

 

prioritizing fairness

World Athletics has made a decision on transgendered athletes. Essentially going for the safety, fairness, inclusivity ordering.

a tip of the hat to Greg

The IOC and NCAA are muddy on the issue.

 

 

omicron and long covid

Chances of having Covid turn into Long Covid are lower with Omicron.  Semi good news as there's still a chance and so many people have given up on precautions. 

 

on banning cats and cars.

Bird carnage argument the anti-green energy crowd makes about wind turbines.  Perhaps some other things would have to be banned first.  

 

risk and the valley

On the psychology of Silicon Valley and the SVB crash.

snip

...

What I think VCs are not very good at is worrying about the downside potential. What I mean by that is: If you read interviews with start-up people, there’s a tremendous amount of puffery. They will say, “This is the greatest product, and we’re going to be the next Facebook” or “the next Google” or the next whatever. “We’ll be the Uber for schoolchildren” or something like that. And there’s usually a sense of unbridled optimism among this crowd.

Banking and finance, however, are the exact opposite. It’s related to something called risk management. So companies that deal with large amounts of money, particularly financial companies, have risk managers. They usually report to a C-suite executive, and they’re very important. Their job is to worry. Their job is to ask, “What are some scenarios in which we could lose a lot of money?” And they try to protect against downside risk. And I think most of the tech companies that have their money in places like SVB are just not thinking about risk management. [Editor’s Note: SVB itself reportedly had no risk officer for most of last year.]

...

 

 

morality and school books

A challenge to the Bible..  

Compared with many of the books removed in places like Florida, it full of immorality by the standards of the right.  But, of course, much of the right are functionally diodes.

 

the oldest dog

a tip of the hat to Jad

 

 

on the space force

An interview (audio and transcript) with Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno.

snip

...

Moskowitz: What would it actually mean to go to war in space?

Armango: Well, a war in space would be devastating. Because it would probably destroy the very domain itself. And so, you know, the world as we know it would be very, very different.

Billings: Yikes. And what would it mean for regular people down on Earth if we did lose some of those capabilities in space?

Armango: I mean, you know, today, especially in modern American life, we benefit from that timing signal from the GPS constellation–that timing signal runs everything from, you know, the power that we're enjoying, to, you know, the blue dot on your cell phone.

I mean, that timing signal is everything, not to mention the positioning and navigation that GPS provides free to the world.

A war in space could, at the, at the low end, disrupt those services. At the high end, it could be destroyed completely and potentially for a very, very long time. Debris lasts in space forever. So I don't even want to put a year on it. It would be decades.

I think we Take it all for granted. I really do

...

 

 

a unicycle that flies

A combination of an aerial quadrotor and a unicycle gives good maneuverability and endurance,   Seeing the title makes you wonder if the idea was hatched in a drinking session but the paper shows cleverness

 

Roller-Quadrotor: A Novel Hybrid Terrestrial/Aerial Quadrotor with Unicycle-Driven and Rotor-Assisted Turning

Zhi Zheng1,2, Jin Wang†1,2, Yuze Wu3, Qifeng Cai1,2, Huan Yu1,2, Ruibin Zhang3, Jie Tu1,2, Jun Meng2,4, Guodong Lu1,2, and Fei Gao3

Abstract— Roller-Quadrotor is a novel hybrid terrestrial and aerial quadrotor that combines the elevated maneuverability of the quadrotor with the lengthy endurance of the ground vehicle. This work presents the design, modeling, and experimental validation of Roller-Quadrotor. Flying is achieved through a quadrotor configuration, and four actuators providing thrust. Rolling is supported by unicycle-driven and rotor-assisted turn- ing structure. During terrestrial locomotion, the vehicle needs to overcome rolling and turning resistance, thus saving energy compared to flight mode. This work overcomes the challenging problems of general rotorcraft, reduces energy consumption and allows to through special terrain, such as narrow gaps. It also solves the obstacle avoidance challenge faced by terrestrial robots by flying. We design the models and controllers for the vehicle. The experiment results show that it can switch between aerial and terrestrial locomotion, and be able to safely pass through a narrow gap half the size of its diameter. Besides, it is capable of rolling a distance approximately 3.8 times as much as flying or operating about 42.2 times as lengthy as flying. These results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the structure and control in rolling through special terrain and energy saving.