The front cover is a shot of the 2.55 gigawatt Oconee plant in South Carolina. These three reactors were built for 356 million dollars between 1967 and 1974. That is $1141 per kilowatt in 2024 dollars. Oconee can produce reliable, on-demand, zero pollution, very low CO2, electricity at less than 3 cents/kWh in today’s money. These plants and their sisters have operated for over 60 years, harming exactly nobody from radiation. They are licensed to operate intothe 2050’s.

Between 1970 and 2025, technological progress should have reduced the real cost of nuclear power. Instead the current cost of nuclear plants in Europe and North America is more than $15,000/kW, more than 13 times the cost of Oconee. Thanks to its insane energy density, nuclear power should consume far less of the planet’s precious resources than any other source of electricty while producing nearly no pollution and very little CO2. Instead nuclear is a prohibitively expensive flop.

This little book explains why this auto-genocidal tragedy happened, and what we can do about it. Nuclear’s problems are entirely man-made. What is man-made can be man-unmade. If we adopt the regulatory reforms that this book lays out, the providers of nuclear power will be forced to compete with each other and new entrants on a level playing field, in which case the inherent cheapness of fission power combined with technological advances will push the cost of nuclear electricity back down to its should-cost.

The Indians who sold Manhattan were bilked, all right, but they didn’t mind—the land wasn’t theirs anyway //

By now it is probably too late to do anything about it, but the unsettling fact remains that the so-called sale of Manhattan Island to the Dutch in 1626 was a totally illegal deal; a group of Brooklyn Indians perpetrated the swindle, and they had no more right to sell Manhattan Island than the present mayor of White Plains would have to declare war on France. When the Manhattan Indians found out about it they were understandably furious, but by that time the Dutch had too strong a foothold to be dislodged—by the Indians, at any rate—and the eventual arrival of one-way avenues and the Hamburg Heaven Crystal Room was only a matter of time.

Emergency access allows users to designate and manage trusted emergency contacts, who can request access to their vault in cases of emergency.

Security is constantly evolving. Today, a new in-depth security report is available, continuing the Bitwarden commitment to transparency and trusted open source security. The audit, conducted by the prestigious Applied Cryptography Group at ETH Zurich, proactively tested Bitwarden core cryptography operations against the hypothetical event of a maliciously compromised server. All issues identified in the report have been addressed by the Bitwarden team and have been included in the attached cryptography report for full transparency.

Bitwarden was selected for analysis by ETH Zurich primarily due to its open source architecture, where code is available to the public on GitHub for inspection, auditing, and contribution. With this model, the world's leading academic researchers and professional minds, like the ETH Zurich Applied Cryptography Group, can stress-test Bitwarden infrastructure and code with penetration testing and security audits.

In the Age of Discovery, maps held closely guarded secrets for the kings, adventurers, and merchants who first acquired them.

"No matter who you ask, the most important factor is length. Length is more important than complexity and randomness," Comparitech consumer privacy advocate Paul Bischoff told us in an email.

Of course, adding a random character into a long passphrase doesn't hurt either, Bischoff noted... //

Using gibberish passwords and relying on a password manager is still better than qwerty123, of course, and Bischoff says that goes for browser-based password management, too. You're still taking matters into your own hands, of course, as Chrome updates have been known to break Google Password Manager, and password manager apps aren't 100 percent secure either.

Whatever you do, don't let yourself be caught with a password on Comparitech's list, and if it's your responsibility to set password complexity rules, make sure you're setting good ones.

Voidtools' Everything is a great File Explorer replacement //

WinDirStat is a tell-all we all need
A cold hard look into the storage //

ShutUp10++ is an absolute must-have
This is where I take control back from Windows //

Autoruns gives you a very deep look under the hood
Autoruns often feels like my secret weapon

The Lockheed L-1011 competed primarily with the DC-10. Whereas McDonnell Douglas had produced two successful jet airliners and built an extensive customer base, this was Lockheed's first jet-powered airliner. However, while McDonnell Douglas was able to get its aircraft out the door in a swift fashion, Lockheed faced several delays with its program, primarily centered around issues with the Rolls-Royce RB211.

Both aircraft were largely developed out of a request from American Airlines for a twin-engine widebody smaller than the Boeing 747. Both companies developed trijets due to restrictions on twin-engine operations over water, and Lockheed put extra effort into the Tristar's technology. It featured an advanced autopilot, an autoland system, and an automated emergency descent function. This was undoubtedly the most advanced subsonic airliner of its time. //

Charles
I think when the 767 came on the scene, that's what really killed the tristar. //

TJCrewChief
I had a friend that was a 747 and L1011 pilot for TWA. He just loved the Lockheed L1011.

He extolled the fly ability and called it a " Pilots Airplane."

The Federal Highway Administration has given interim approval under the national Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) for the optional use of green colored pavement in marked bike lanes to boost visibility and alert drivers to where bicycles are expected to operate.

If there’s one state that’s leaned into this trend, it’s Florida. Transportation agencies there have adopted MUTCD-aligned design and installation requirements for green-colored pavement markings on bike lanes and multi-use paths.

Under the MUTCD rules, green is not just decorative. It’s a legitimate traffic control device meant to communicate a reserved space (usually for cyclists) and to increase conspicuity.

Ocean currents and tidal flows don’t just push water. They shape where fish go. Around powerful tidal sites like Canada’s Bay of Fundy, researchers have observed patterns in fish movement that almost resemble highways — consistent routes that fish follow as they migrate along the currents.

Thinking about self-hosting an ebook library? Here are the open source software you can consider.

Announced in a press release submitted to Simple Flying, EirTrade Aviation has partnered with RESIDCO to acquire two Airbus A320neo aircraft for teardown, marking the youngest airframes of the type ever dismantled. The aircraft were previously operated by Spirit Airlines and are just four and three and a half years old. Disassembly is taking place in Goodyear, Arizona, with parts destined for EirTrade’s Dallas hub. The transaction is designed to bolster the supply of next-generation used serviceable material (USM) amid growing global demand. //

Early-life teardowns, once uncommon, are now emerging as a strategic response to supply-chain constraints and escalating maintenance costs. //

There are currently more than 4,400 Airbus A320neo aircraft in commercial service worldwide, with a further 7,200 on order. This excludes the approximately 6,500 A320ceo aircraft still operating, many of which share common components. Given the size of the installed base, the A320 platform is expected to remain the largest segment of the global commercial fleet for decades. As a result, demand for USM is projected to increase steadily.

Early-life teardowns provide access to components that align with current regulatory and operational standards, offering operators an alternative to new-part procurement.

There are two important things you must do now: confirm you have Secure Boot enabled and that your system firmware is updated. The Windows System Information tool can show if Secure Boot is enabled. However, any firmware update should come from your PC manufacturer or the platform managing virtual firmware.

If your system is eligible, the update typically happens quietly in the background. You should pay more attention to devices with dual-boot setups or PCs with legacy boot remnants, as they are less likely to get automatic deployment. You may have to navigate to this registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecureBoot and set the AvailableUpdates registry value to a nonzero value. //

You can view the current certificate on your PC by running this PowerShell command: (Get-AuthenticodeSignature "C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi").SignerCertificate | Format-List Subject,Issuer,NotAfter,Thumbprint

You can run this command on PowerShell, and a non-zero value for AvailableUpdates would confirm your computer is eligible to receive certificate updates: Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecureBoot" | Format-List

Divers have located the wreck of the Lac La Belle, a luxury steamer that vanished in a violent gale in 1872, a discovery that came after nearly six decades of organized searching. //

The Lac La Belle left Milwaukee on October 13, 1872, bound for Grand Haven, Michigan. Captain William Gilcher commanded the ship that, along with passengers, carried barley, pork, flour, and whiskey.

A gale caused massive waves that battered the hull. A quickly spreading leak filled the hold, and when the pumps failed, the vessel sank stern-first into about 300 feet of water. //

Luke Warm
a day ago
I left Marquette Mi. the day the Edmund Fitzgerald was lost. My sister who lived there recommended I check out Presque Isle on my way back. I thought I was about to die. My car looked like it survived a roller over. The waves kept pushing me into the rocks, and the retreating waves trying to suck me into Superior. The Mackinaw bridge closed less than an hr after I crossed it heading south. The bridge looked like to world's biggest swing. I learned very quickly that you do not steer when the road your on is swinging. //

Shadd
20 hours ago
I've been to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, up at Whitefish Point, MI. It's about 45 mins north of the Mackinac Bridge. I highly recommend it. //

Hank Reardon
16 hours ago
Readers interested in Great Lakes shipping and shipwreck history might also be interested in visiting the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center at Thunder Bay, Michigan.
https://thunderbay.noaa.gov/visit/great-lakes-maritime-heritage-center.html

Also, unrelated to Great Lakes shipwrecks but equally fascinating is the display of cargo from the 1865 wreck of the Missouri river steamboat Bertrand, discovered in 1968. The large amount of freight bound for the goldfields of Montana captures a snapshot of life in America and is meticulously displayed at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, on the Missouri River north of Omaha.
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/desoto/steamboat-bertrand

Academics say they found a series of flaws affecting three popular password managers, all of which claim to protect user credentials in the event that their servers are compromised.

The team, comprised of researchers from ETH Zurich and Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), examined the "zero-knowledge encryption" promises made by Bitwarden, LastPass, and Dashlane, finding all three could expose passwords if attackers compromised servers. //

As one of the most popular alternatives to Apple and Google's own password managers, which together dominate the market, the researchers found Bitwarden was most susceptible to attacks, with 12 working against the open-source product. Seven distinct attacks worked against LastPass, and six succeeded in Dashlane.

The Depenguinator, version 2.0

In December 2003, I wrote a script for remotely upgrading a linux system to FreeBSD. I gave it a catchy name ("depenguinator", inspired by the "Antichickenator" in Baldur's Gate), announced it on a FreeBSD mailing list and on slashdot, and before long it was famous. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for changes in the layout of FreeBSD releases to make the depenguination script stop working; so for the past three years I have been receiving emails asking me to update it to work with newer FreeBSD releases.

A few weeks ago, Richard Bejtlich came forward with an offer to pay me to make the necessary improvements (money doesn't solve everything, but offering money certainly helps break the "I'll do it when I have some free time" / "I never have any free time" deadlock). In the end I asked him to arrange for a donation to the FreeBSD Foundation instead of paying me, but his offer was enough of a prompt for me to spend ten hours revising and testing the depenguinator.

Many computer systems around the world have been possessed by penguins; some have even been possessed by dead rats. In light of this, it is desireable to exorcize these evil spirits, and replace them with a nice, friendly daemon.
(More to the point, there are a number of dedicated server hosting companies which only offer Linux (or, in some cases, Linux and Windows); being able to remotely replace Linux with FreeBSD makes the (typically very low cost) offerings from these companies available to those who want to run FreeBSD.

I've put together some code for building a FreeBSD disk image which will boot into memory, configure the network, set a root password, and enable SSH. This can be used to "depenguinate" a Linux box, without requiring any access beyond a network connection.

The remainder of this page relates to the original (December 2003) version of my depenguinator. For a more recent version (which works with FreeBSD 7.0) see my blog post about my depenguinator version 2.0.

To store heat for days, weeks, or months, you need to trap the energy in the bonds of a molecule that can later release heat on demand. The approach to this particular chemistry problem is called molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage. While it has been the next big thing for decades, it never really took off. //

Molecular batteries, in principle, are extremely good at storing energy. Heating oil, arguably the most popular molecular battery we use for heating, is essentially ancient solar energy stored in chemical bonds. Its energy density stands at around 40 Megajoules per kilo. To put that in perspective, Li-ion batteries usually pack less than one MJ/kg. One of the problems with heating oil, though, is that it is single-use only—it gets burnt when you use it. What Nguyen and her colleagues aimed to achieve with their DNA-inspired substance is essentially a reusable fuel. //

The researchers achieved an energy storage density of 1.65 MJ/kg—nearly double the capacity of Li-ion batteries and substantially higher than any previous MOST material. //

One of the biggest fears with chemical storage is thermal reversion—the fuel spontaneously discharges because it got a little too warm in the storage tank. But the Dewar isomers of the pyrimidones are incredibly stable. The researchers calculated a half-life of up to 481 days at room temperature for some derivatives. This means the fuel could be charged in the heat of July, and it would remain fully charged when you need to heat your home in January. The degradation figures also look decent for a MOST energy storage. The team ran the system through 20 charge-discharge cycles with negligible decay. //

Still, we’re rather far away using MOST systems for heating actual homes. To get there, we’re going to need molecules that absorb far more of the light spectrum and convert to the activated state with a higher efficiency. We’re just not there yet.

Emotion and character are what we remember… not spectacle. At best, spectacle is salt on a good steak.

On the other end of the spectrum, necessity is said to be the mother of invention, and nowhere have we seen this old axiom play out more often than in the movies. Magic happens at the movies most reliably when filmmakers do not have unlimited resources from which to draw, and must find creative ways to “make do” instead.

The most famous example is “Jaws.” As the legend goes, Steven Spielberg’s rubber shark, named “Bruce” after his lawyer, was chronically broken and so Spielberg had to figure out ways to suggest or imply the shark’s presence in scenes without the audience being able to actually see it. The result was a brilliantly understated thriller that plays more like Hitchcock than Roland Emmerich.

All of which cries out for a question be asked… what if bigger isn’t better?

Mini Foldable Desktop Mop – Your Everyday Wet & Dry Cleaning Companion
Make quick cleanups effortless with the Mini Foldable Desktop Mop. Lightweight, portable, and designed for everyday convenience, this compact mop is perfect for countertops, desks, glass surfaces, bathrooms, and even car interiors. It folds neatly for easy storage and features a built-in self-squeezing mechanism to keep your hands clean at all times.