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K8s Cleaner: Optimize Your Kubernetes Clusters

2024-12-18

K8s Cleaner is a Kubernetes cluster cleanup tool designed for administrators. It efficiently identifies and removes unused resources to boost cluster performance and reduce operational costs. Supporting all resource types, including CRDs, it offers pre-defined rules and customizable options (time-based, label-based, or custom Lua scripts). Notifications are sent via Slack, Email, and more, while a dry-run mode prevents accidental changes. K8s Cleaner streamlines Kubernetes resource management.

(sveltos.projectsveltos.io)

Development Cluster Cleanup Resource Management

Metformin's Secret Revealed: Mitochondria Hold the Key

2024-12-18

Metformin's Secret Revealed: Mitochondria Hold the Key

A new study unveils the precise mechanism of action for metformin, a widely used drug for Type 2 diabetes. Researchers discovered that metformin lowers blood sugar by interfering with mitochondria, the cell's powerhouses. Specifically, it blocks mitochondrial complex I, a crucial part of the cell's energy-producing machinery. This research, published in Science Advances, used genetically engineered mice to demonstrate that metformin targets disease-contributing cells without significantly harming healthy ones. This provides a deeper understanding of how this 'wonder drug' works.

(news.northwestern.edu)

Tech metformin mitochondria diabetes

Java for Small Programs: Scripts and Notebooks

2024-12-18

This article explores the surprising effectiveness of Java for small programs, particularly scripting and exploratory programming. The author details how Java's features, like implicit classes, records, and enums, simplify code, highlighting the ease of running Java scripts without compilation (using JEP 330 and JEP 458). Managing external dependencies with JBang is also discussed. The article further delves into using Java within Jupyter Notebooks, acknowledging current limitations while expressing hope for future improvements in the ecosystem. The author's experience automating tedious tasks showcases Java's strength over alternatives like bash scripting and Python, emphasizing the advantages of static typing and robust tool support.

(horstmann.com)

Development Scripting

Doomsday Predictions: Why People Always Feel the End is Nigh

2024-12-18

Doomsday Predictions: Why People Always Feel the End is Nigh

From Columbus's time onward, doomsday predictions have accompanied humanity. The author argues that people believe in them not for comfort, but because they seem logical. A 'Good Cup Bad Cup' theory is introduced: people pay more attention to bad things, and negative memories fade faster, leading to a perception that bad things are increasing and the world is deteriorating. Historical examples, from ancient Egyptian prophecies to the Millerite movement, support this: people always feel the present is worse than the past. The author calls for a rational perspective, urging readers to avoid biases and recognize positive changes.

(www.experimental-history.com)

Misc doomsday prophecies cognitive biases historical analysis

Early Bronze Age Massacre Unearthed in Somerset, UK

2024-12-18

Early Bronze Age Massacre Unearthed in Somerset, UK

Excavations at Charterhouse Warren in Somerset, UK, have revealed a shocking Early Bronze Age massacre. At least 37 men, women, and children were brutally killed and butchered, their dismembered remains discarded in a 15-meter-deep natural shaft. Cut marks and blunt force trauma on the bones indicate a deliberate act of extreme violence, possibly including cannibalism. This discovery offers a unique insight into prehistoric violence in Britain, challenging previous understandings of social stability during this period and prompting further investigation into the motivations and social context of the event.

(www.cambridge.org)

Misc Early Bronze Age Massacre Cannibalism

The 1954 Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic: A Case of Mass Delusion

2024-12-18

The 1954 Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic: A Case of Mass Delusion

In April 1954, Seattle and surrounding areas were gripped by a mysterious phenomenon: countless tiny pits appeared on car windshields. Panic ensued, with theories ranging from cosmic rays to nuclear fallout and even sand flea eggs. Official investigations were chaotic, experts disagreed, and mass hysteria gripped the public. The truth, however, was far less dramatic: the pits were already there, unnoticed until widespread attention and media fueled a collective delusion. The event became a textbook example of mass delusion, highlighting the dangers of misinformation and the power of groupthink.

(www.historylink.org)

Misc mass delusion social psychology 1954 Seattle event

Pea Protein Foam: Revolutionizing Plant-Based Baking

2024-12-18

Pea Protein Foam: Revolutionizing Plant-Based Baking

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a plant-based protein foam made from legumes like peas and lentils. This foam can be used in baking to create light and airy baked goods, offering a healthy vegan alternative to egg whites. The process involves extracting pea protein and optimizing its foaming properties using high-pressure homogenization. The resulting foam closely matches the quality of animal-derived protein foams. While discerning palates might detect subtle differences, this innovation represents a significant breakthrough for plant-based baking, reflecting the growing demand for healthy and sustainable food options.

(phys.org)

Tech plant-based protein baking

BlackSheep: A Fast and Lightweight ASGI Web Framework for Python

2024-12-18

BlackSheep: A Fast and Lightweight ASGI Web Framework for Python

BlackSheep is a fast asynchronous ASGI web framework for Python, inspired by Flask, ASP.NET Core, and the work of Yury Selivanov. It offers a CLI for rapid project bootstrapping, supports automatic binding, dependency injection, OpenAPI documentation generation, and various authentication and authorization strategies. BlackSheep boasts broad platform and runtime compatibility, and features middleware, WebSocket, SSE, static file serving, and Jinja2 integration, making it ideal for building high-performance web applications.

(github.com)

Development Web Framework Asynchronous

GitHub Copilot: Your AI Pair Programmer

2024-12-18

GitHub Copilot: Your AI Pair Programmer

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered pair programmer that provides real-time code suggestions based on your code and natural language prompts. It supports multiple programming languages and IDEs, offering free and paid plans to suit various needs. Copilot boasts powerful debugging and security vulnerability fixing capabilities, along with multi-file editing and cross-platform support. While trained on public code repositories, it doesn't copy-paste code but generates suggestions probabilistically, offering an optional code referencing filter to mitigate copyright concerns.

(github.com)

Development AI programming code assistant

Zipshare: Effortless Android Screen Sharing for Support

2024-12-18

Zipshare offers seamless Android screen sharing, perfect for internal help desks supporting retail staff or field employees. No signup or meeting IDs are needed for the screen sharer – just instant sharing, with the option to add your own voice or video chat. Created by Miso Software, Zipshare is a simple yet powerful tool for team collaboration.

(www.getzipshare.com)

Development screen sharing Android app remote support

MIT Rocket Team Recovers Data from Crashed Rocket

2024-12-18

In Spring 2020, the MIT Rocket team launched rockets at the FAR site in the Mojave desert. A second-stage rocket crashed without deploying its parachutes, burying itself 3 meters underground. Despite significant damage to the avionics, the team successfully recovered data from a damaged flash chip. Using a salt solution to create temporary electrical contact, they were able to read the flash memory and determine the cause of the crash.

(dontvacuum.me)

Tech rocket crash data recovery flash chip

Human Thought Speed: A Mere 10 Bits Per Second

2024-12-18

Human Thought Speed: A Mere 10 Bits Per Second

Caltech researchers have discovered that human thought processes are surprisingly slow, operating at a mere 10 bits per second—significantly slower than our sensory systems' billion bits per second input rate. This study presents a paradox: why is our thinking so slow? Researchers speculate this may stem from the evolution of our brains from simple navigational systems, processing information sequentially rather than in parallel. This finding challenges some science fiction concepts regarding brain-computer interfaces, suggesting even neural interfaces would be limited by our inherent 10-bit-per-second processing speed.

(www.caltech.edu)

AI human thought information processing

ISO 8583: The Secret Language of Credit Cards

2024-12-18

ISO 8583: The Secret Language of Credit Cards

Every time you tap your card or pay online, you're interacting with the ISO 8583 protocol. This 1987 standard defines the format of real-time transaction messages between banking networks. It includes core fields like message type indicators, bitmaps, and data elements, but networks vary in their extensions and serialization, leading to compatibility challenges. This article delves into the complexities of ISO 8583's structure, field encoding, nested message handling, and demonstrates building a robust ISO 8583 parser to handle network variations and error scenarios.

(increase.com)

Development credit card payments data parsing

Castle Game Engine Update: Web Target, IFC Support, and mORMot Collaboration

2024-12-18

Castle Game Engine Update: Web Target, IFC Support, and mORMot Collaboration

The Castle Game Engine team announced updates including a web target (using JS+WebAssembly for browser-based game execution), support for the IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) format, and collaborative editing using mORMot2. The web target currently handles basic functions and is improving WebGL support. IFC support allows loading, modifying, and saving models, with future enhancements planned. Collaborative editing is still under development but already enables 3D world modification and server synchronization.

(castle-engine.io)

Development game engine

Mathematical Modeling Reveals Just How Bad the Dreidel Game Is

2024-12-18

Mathematical Modeling Reveals Just How Bad the Dreidel Game Is

Last year, the author used the PRISM probabilistic modeling language to model the traditional holiday game Dreidel, proving its lack of fun. This year, he refined the model to simulate the entire game until its conclusion. The new model corrects the previous flaw of only simulating the elimination of the first player and improves the calculation logic for betting and player elimination. Through model simulation, the author found that, on average, a four-player game takes 760 spins to end, and the longest can even exceed 6 hours. This fully proves that the Dreidel game is long, tedious, and frustrating.

(buttondown.com)

Game probabilistic modeling game analysis

Brisk: A Cross-Platform C++20 GUI Framework for High-Performance Rendering

2024-12-18

Brisk: A Cross-Platform C++20 GUI Framework for High-Performance Rendering

Brisk is a modern, cross-platform C++20 GUI framework built for creating responsive, high-performance applications with ease. Leveraging an MVVM architecture and reactive capabilities, Brisk boasts scalable GPU-accelerated rendering, making it ideal for graphics-intensive projects. It supports multiple backends (D3D11, D3D12, Vulkan, OpenGL, Metal, WebGPU) and features declarative GUI, stylesheets, and full Unicode support. Currently under active development, contributions are welcome.

(github.com)

Development GUI Framework GPU Acceleration

USDA Strengthens Food Safety Measures After Deadly Listeria Outbreaks

2024-12-18

USDA Strengthens Food Safety Measures After Deadly Listeria Outbreaks

Following two deadly Listeria monocytogenes outbreaks linked to Boar's Head deli meats and Yu Shang ready-to-eat meat and poultry products, resulting in dozens of illnesses and multiple deaths, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has finally acted. Despite prior knowledge of deficiencies at the Boar's Head facility, FSIS failed to intervene until after the outbreak. The agency announced stronger measures, including expanded testing, improved inspector training, and enhanced facility oversight, to prevent future incidents. This highlights vulnerabilities in food safety regulation and the critical need for prompt and effective intervention.

(efoodalert.com)

Tech food safety Listeria outbreak

W54: The Pocket-Sized Nuke of the Cold War

2024-12-18

W54: The Pocket-Sized Nuke of the Cold War

The W54, also known as the Mark 54 or B54, was the smallest nuclear weapon ever deployed by the United States. Its remarkably compact design, boasting a yield ranging from 10 to 1,000 tons of TNT, made it suitable for various applications, including the AIM-26 Falcon air-to-air missile, the Davy Crockett recoilless rifle, and the Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) system. Developed in the late 1950s, the W54's creation presented significant engineering challenges, particularly concerning its environmental sensing device. A later variant, the W72, was integrated into the AGM-62 Walleye guided bomb and remained in service until 1979.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Tech nuclear weapon cold war

Intel CEO Gelsinger Out: The Fall of a Giant?

2024-12-18

Intel CEO Gelsinger Out: The Fall of a Giant?

This article analyzes the departure of Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. Gelsinger, once seen as a savior for the struggling tech giant, failed to turn Intel's fortunes around during his three-year tenure. The article explores multiple contributing factors, including missed opportunities in the mobile market, the disruptive AI boom, geopolitical challenges, and delays in government collaborations. Ultimately, Gelsinger's departure is presented as a consequence of Intel's long-standing internal issues combined with external market forces, leaving Intel's future uncertain.

(spyglass.org)

Tech Gelsinger semiconductor industry

Ryzen 7 9800X3D Teardown Reveals Mostly Dummy Silicon

2024-12-18

Ryzen 7 9800X3D Teardown Reveals Mostly Dummy Silicon

A teardown of AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor reveals a surprising finding: the majority of its volume is comprised of dummy silicon for structural integrity. While the SRAM cache die is significantly smaller than the compute die, AMD has added a substantial layer of dummy silicon above and below to protect the thin, fragile components. This results in a total package thickness of roughly 800µm, with dummy silicon accounting for a staggering 93%. Despite the seemingly wasteful design, it ensures stability and thermal performance. AMD is expected to announce 12-core and 16-core Ryzen 9 X3D processors soon.

(www.tomshardware.com)

Hardware

Hadrius Hiring Founding UI/UX Designer, Up to $150K

2024-12-18

Hadrius Hiring Founding UI/UX Designer, Up to $150K

Hadrius, a Y Combinator-backed fintech startup, is hiring a Founding UI/UX Designer. They're using AI to automate the back office for financial firms, preventing future financial crises. The role is full-time in New York City, offering $80K-$150K salary and 0.01%-0.15% equity. The ideal candidate is a highly skilled designer with experience at a design-focused tech company, proficient in Figma, and passionate about Hadrius's mission. The team boasts engineers from Google, Chime, and other top companies, and the company is experiencing hyper-growth, doubling revenue every three months.

(www.ycombinator.com)

Development UI/UX Design

Leadership Power Tools: SQL, Statistics, and Data-Driven Decisions

2024-12-18

Leadership Power Tools: SQL, Statistics, and Data-Driven Decisions

This article explores how engineering leaders can leverage SQL and statistical methods for data-driven decision-making. The author points out that many engineering leaders are uncomfortable extracting and interpreting data, recommending learning SQL (e.g., using DuckDB) and statistical tools. The article covers summary statistics, distributions, confidence intervals, and Bayesian reasoning, demonstrating how to calculate confidence intervals by analyzing Firefox bug tracking data, using Monte Carlo simulations for project time estimation, and applying Bayesian inference to update project completion probabilities. The article emphasizes the importance of data analysis skills for engineering leaders, enabling more precise predictions and decisions.

(matt.blwt.io)

Development engineering leadership

Bank of North Dakota: A Century of Success, Boosting State's Economy

2024-12-18

Bank of North Dakota: A Century of Success, Boosting State's Economy

The Bank of North Dakota (BND) is the only state-owned and -operated general-service bank in the United States, established in 1919 to foster agriculture, commerce, and industry. It leverages state funds to provide loans and financial services for infrastructure projects, agriculture, and small businesses, and acts as a wholesale bank for local institutions. BND played a crucial role during the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating its profitability and positive impact on the state's economy. Its unique model has made it a standout success story in the American financial system.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Startup state-owned bank economic development financial services

Canva Engineering Cuts CI Build Times from Hours to Under 30 Minutes

2024-12-18

Canva Engineering Cuts CI Build Times from Hours to Under 30 Minutes

Canva's engineering team dramatically reduced their continuous integration (CI) build times, from an average of 80 minutes to under 30 minutes, sometimes as low as 15. This was achieved through a multifaceted approach. They identified and resolved Bazel caching issues, optimized pipeline structures, improved Git repository checkouts and caching, and leveraged Bazel Remote Build Execution (RBE). Extensive experimentation, including testing different instance types and adjusting Bazel configurations, played a crucial role. A series of incremental improvements significantly increased CI efficiency, reduced costs, and enhanced the developer experience.

(www.canva.dev)

Development Continuous Integration CI Optimization

US Weighs Ban on TP-Link Routers Over Hacking Fears

2024-12-18

US Weighs Ban on TP-Link Routers Over Hacking Fears

The US government is considering a ban on TP-Link routers, a popular Chinese brand, due to national security concerns linked to cyberattacks. Investigations are underway by the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Justice. TP-Link holds a 65% US market share, largely due to its low prices. A Microsoft report implicated TP-Link routers in ransomware and other cyberattacks launched by Chinese hackers. Investigators allege TP-Link fails to address vulnerabilities, and refuses to cooperate with cybersecurity experts. TP-Link claims its security practices meet industry standards and is committed to addressing US national security concerns. This action reflects broader US concerns about Chinese technology and efforts to restrict imports from China.

(nypost.com)

Tech national security

Heat Accelerates Auto Chip Aging, Raising Safety Concerns

2024-12-18

Heat Accelerates Auto Chip Aging, Raising Safety Concerns

New research shows that automotive chips are aging significantly faster than expected in hot climates, shortening the lifespan of electric vehicles and potentially creating new safety issues. In areas like Phoenix, Arizona, where high temperatures can persist for weeks, cabin temperatures can reach 93°C, severely impacting chip longevity. Studies reveal that for a chip designed for a 30-year lifespan, high temperatures reduce life expectancy by an additional 10% annually. Chipmakers are working to address this, requiring new materials, design redundancy, and active cooling solutions. Increased chip utilization due to autonomous driving exacerbates the problem. Proactive monitoring and predictive failure analysis will become crucial, impacting both vehicle reliability and safety.

(semiengineering.com)

Hardware automotive chips aging high temperatures

Cultural Evolution of Cooperation Among LLM Agents

2024-12-18

Researchers investigated whether a 'society' of Large Language Model (LLM) agents can learn mutually beneficial social norms despite incentives to defect. Experiments revealed significant differences in the evolution of cooperation across base models, with Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforming Gemini 1.5 Flash and GPT-4o. Furthermore, Claude 3.5 Sonnet leveraged a costly punishment mechanism to achieve even higher scores, a feat not replicated by the other models. This study proposes a new benchmark for LLMs focused on the societal implications of LLM agent deployment, offering insights into building more robust and cooperative AI agents.

(arxiv.org)

AI Cooperation Social Norms

Whittaker's Keynote at NDSS 2024: AI, Encryption, and a New Era of Threats

2024-12-18

Whittaker's Keynote at NDSS 2024: AI, Encryption, and a New Era of Threats

At the 2024 NDSS Symposium, Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation, delivered a keynote address reflecting on the 'Crypto Wars' of the 90s. She highlighted how political, technical, and commercial pressures have shaped today's encryption landscape. Whittaker warned against viewing the current situation as simply 'Crypto Wars 2.0,' arguing that an economic engine driven by personal data, surveillance technology, and AI/ML poses a fundamentally different threat than the government-dominated encryption landscape of the 90s. She stressed the need for a new approach, with NDSS research at the forefront of this response.

(www.ndss-symposium.org)

AI Encryption

Interpol Drops 'Pig Butchering' Term

2024-12-18

Interpol Drops 'Pig Butchering' Term

Interpol announced it will no longer use the term "pig butchering" to describe online scams, citing its potential to shame and discourage victims from reporting. The organization believes the term dehumanizes victims and prefers "romance baiting," a term it believes is more sensitive and respectful. This change highlights a shift towards prioritizing victim support and emphasizes the need for more considerate language when discussing sensitive crimes. However, many US law enforcement agencies continue to use the original term.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech online scams Interpol victim support

Mystery Drone Sightings Continue to Plague US East Coast

2024-12-18

Mystery Drone Sightings Continue to Plague US East Coast

A wave of mysterious drone sightings is causing widespread concern and airspace closures along the US East Coast. These SUV-sized drones have been reported near military bases and airports in New Jersey and New York, disrupting air travel. While federal agencies are investigating, explanations remain elusive, with speculation ranging from political conspiracies to other unknown causes. The ongoing mystery fuels public anxiety and calls for swift resolution to prevent further disruptions and potential threats.

(www.theregister.com)

Misc drones US East Coast airspace closures

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