It turns out, pushing unrealistic green energy schemes onto low- and middle-income people at the expense of a safer fuel source was not only bad science, it was dangerous propaganda.
It's going to be difficult to fix, they said, and would require a significant code rewrite or trying to use the TPM module to store the biometric data - which might not be possible. They recommended that, if you are using Hello for Business without ESS, then disable the biometrics and stick with logging in using a PIN. //
Using Sysinternal's CoreInfo tool and a webpage from 2011 (yes, apparently 14 years ago if the date is trustworthy), you can check if your computer meets the requirements.
Note: Do execute the correct bitness version of coreinfo.exe. Running the 32-bit version on a 64-bit OS fails to work.
The IOCCC, as it's familiarly known, is back after a four-year gap, giving the entrants more time to come up with some remarkably devious code.
This week, the results for the IOCCC 2024 were announced, with a record 23 winners. It's the first IOCCC in four years, but you shouldn't take that to imply it's as regular as the Olympics. In fact, almost nothing about the IOCCC is regular: this was the 28th edition of the event, and celebrated its 40th anniversary.
We confess that we have not yet studied the source of all the winners closely, but we have already got some personal favorites. Adrian Cable won the "Prize in murky waters" for this magnificent effort:
Dr Cable offered this 23 second Youtube clip by way of explanation. The chances are that you may already be familiar with it, but if not, it won't take you long. We also confidently predict that it will not help in any way.
Whatever you think the code does when run, you're wrong, but you're not going to believe what it actually does generate. Don't try to copy and paste it from the above, because as well as flagrant abuse of the C programming language, it also contains flagrant abuse of Unicode encoding. The IOCCC organizers have their own explanation, which will show you what this infernal masterpiece does in fact do.
In the late 5th/early 6th century BC, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote of battle:
Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.
We need to build a force of fighters, and more, of warriors. This is a step in that direction. //
Laocoön of Troy
6 hours ago
Amen!
Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
‘To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods,
[snip]
When the goodman mends his armour,
And trims his helmet’s plume;
When the goodwife’s shuttle merrily
Goes flashing through the loom;
With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859)
anon-j4cj Laocoön of Troy
2 hours ago
When I was a lad of 14, after having read of the Horatius Brothers in Latin class, I was fortunate enough to see the famous painting (Jacques-Louis David, 1784) "Oath of the Horatii" in the Louvre in Paris, France. It was awesome; that and seeing the "Winged Victory" statue made incredible impressions on me. I prayed at the time that through Grace, I would find the "right stuff" within to be able to answer the bell when called. Boomer.
August 6th, 1955; As part of the Dash 80's demonstration program, Boeing invited representatives of the Aircraft Industries Association (AIA) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) to the Seattle's 1955 Seafare and Gold Cup Hydroplane Races held on Lake Washington
The Dash 80, Boeing's newest and biggest thing, was scheduled to perform a simple flyover. At the controls was Chief Boeing test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnston, ex barnstormer, civilian flight instructor, U.S. Army Air Corps Ferry Command pilot, flight test engineer and winner of the Thompson Trophy at the 1946 National Air Races. (Alvin earned his nickname "Tex" because of his unique flight gear, consisting of cowboy boots and a Stetson hat)
Boeing Dash 80
Tex had other plans. As Boeing's pride and joy, approached low over Lake Washington, in front of 250,000 people, including several of the nation's top aviation executives, watched as the Dash 80 pulled nose up and gracefully entered a barrel roll, causing the crowd to drop into silence.
Security firm Malwarebytes on Friday said it recently discovered that porn sites have been seeding boobytrapped .svg files to select visitors. When one of these people clicks on the image, it causes browsers to surreptitiously register a like for Facebook posts promoting the site.
Unpacking the attack took work, because much of the JavaScript in the .svg images was heavily obscured using a custom version of “JSFuck,” a technique that uses only a handful of character types to encode JavaScript into a camouflaged wall of text.
Once decoded, the script causes the browser to download a chain of additional obfuscated JavaScript. The final payload, a known malicious script called Trojan.JS.Likejack, induces the browser to like a specified Facebook post as long as a user has their account open.
“This Trojan, also written in Javascript, silently clicks a ‘Like’ button for a Facebook page without the user’s knowledge or consent, in this case the adult posts we found above,” Malwarebytes researcher Pieter Arntz wrote. “The user will have to be logged in on Facebook for this to work, but we know many people keep Facebook open for easy access.”
17 U.S. Code § 107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use] said:
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
A century ago, somewhere around 8–10 percent of all psychiatric admissions in the US were caused by bromism. That's because, then as now, people wanted sedatives to calm their anxieties, to blot out a cruel world, or simply to get a good night's sleep. Bromine-containing salts—things like potassium bromide—were once drugs of choice for this sort of thing.
Unfortunately, bromide can easily build up in the human body, where too much of it impairs nerve function. This causes a wide variety of problems, including grotesque skin rashes (warning: the link is exactly what it sounds like) and significant mental problems, which are all grouped under the name of "bromism."
Bromide sedatives vanished from the US market by 1989, after the Food and Drug Administration banned them, and "bromism" as a syndrome is today unfamiliar to many Americans. (Though you can still get it by drinking, as one poor guy did, two to four liters of cola daily [!], if that cola contains "brominated vegetable oil." Fortunately, the FDA removed brominated vegetable oil from US food products in 2024.) //
After the escape attempt, the man was given an involuntary psychiatric hold and an anti-psychosis drug. He was administered large amounts of fluids and electrolytes, as the best way to beat bromism is "aggressive saline diuresis"—that is, to load someone up with liquids and let them pee out all the bromide in their system.
This took time, as the man's bromide level was eventually measured at a whopping 1,700 mg/L, while the "reference range" for healthy people is 0.9 to 7.3 mg/L. //
ChatGPT did list bromide as an alternative, but only under the third option (cleaning or disinfecting), noting that bromide treatments are "often used in hot tubs."
Left to his own devices, then, without knowing quite what to ask or how to interpret the responses, the man in this case study "did his own research" and ended up in a pretty dark place. The story seems like a perfect cautionary tale for the modern age, where we are drowning in information—but where we often lack the economic resources, the information-vetting skills, the domain-specific knowledge, or the trust in others that would help us make the best use of it. //
darlox Ars Centurion
12y
291
There's clearly a bell-curve of "the right amount of information" for society to function well. Too little, you end up with quacks selling cure-alls and snake oil because nobody can effectively do any research. Too much, and you end up with quacks selling cure-alls and snake oil because everybody can effectively do terrible research.
Sooner or later this will work it way out of the gene pool.... one way or another. 🤦♂️ //
Steel_Sloth Smack-Fu Master, in training
3y
26
Subscriptor
You should cut down on your use of table salt? Ah, that old bromide... //
Frodo Douchebaggins Ars Legatus Legionis
12y
11,409
Subscriptor
Some people are on this planet solely to become cautionary tales. //
UweHalfHand Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
5y
153
Subscriptor++
ajm8127 said:
Don't you need some chlorine? For example to form HCl and break down food in your stomach. I am sure the body uses it for other processes as well.
Remember, a BALANCED diet is what you are after.
No! ChlorINE is very dangerous war gas; it’s chlorIDE you need, the latter is a benign ion of significant biological use. Granted, it’s only one tiny electron difference, but that makes all the difference… a very renowned biophysicist corrected me quite emphatically on this point once. If you attempt to let that electron be added inside or for that matter anywhere near your body, you will regret it.
The decision by Secretary Driscoll to travel to Fort Stewart will not go unnoticed by the soldiers. His decision to honor both the guys who took down the shooter and the soldiers rendering aid is a great touch. Personally, I think Thomas and Turner deserved a higher award, the Soldier's Medal, but that is neither here nor there. Most noncommissioned officers will only get a Meritorious Service Medal at retirement.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is trying to revitalize the civilian chain of command in the military, and having the Secretary of the Army present these awards, rather than delegating it to the division commander, sends a clear message about who is in charge and watching day-to-day Army operations. During my service, I couldn't have picked the Secretary of the Army out of a two-man lineup. There is definitely different civilian leadership in today's Pentagon. //
Jerry's Middle Finger Min Headroom
9 hours ago
And it happened within 48 hours of the event, not months or even longer as the administrative process churns along at a glacial pace.
The rank and file notices that too, and it tells them that their leaders care about them.
streiff Jerry's Middle Finger
8 hours ago
Happened less than 24 hours after the event.
Marriage is never fair deal -- you are building something eternal
In this video, Friedman explains how socialism relies on force to achieve good. But using force corrupts, no matter how pure the intentions.
This is key to understanding why centralized control systems inevitably fail.
Poverty exists everywhere. The difference lies in which system gives people a real chance to rise.
Milton Friedman explains it in 2 minutes—why freer markets consistently deliver better lives for the poor, without government interference.
In less than two minutes, Milton Friedman dismantles the myth that government redistribution drives prosperity.
Spending isn't what matters. Production is.
The reason for asking the civil government to proclaim the goodness of traditional family life is not because men and women in marital covenant wish to become a special interest group. Rather, the official acknowledgement of the traditional family’s goodness is proper because one of the government’s most basic duties is to promote virtue. Challenging the county commission to honor this role offered them the opportunity to proclaim truth amidst a backdrop of other governments, businesses, and institutions promoting vice.
When it comes to assessing power sources, the three most significant metrics are affordability, reliability, and environmental friendliness.
For several years, we’ve been told that so-called green energy sources like wind and solar check all three of these boxes, thus making them the best choice for America.
However, this is not true. Actually, a strong case can be made that wind and solar are some of the least affordable, reliable, and clean energy sources.
On the other hand, natural gas, which has been inaccurately portrayed as being terrible for the planet and more expensive than wind and solar, is, by far, more affordable, reliable, and environmentally friendly.
This is not mere opinion. It is based on taking the whole picture into account. //
“Coal, natural gas, and nuclear are considered baseload power because they can dependably provide reliable, on-demand power whenever they are needed.” Conversely, “Wind turbines generate, on average, only about 35 percent of the power that would be possible under consistently ideal conditions.” Even worse, “Solar equipment generates, on average, only about 25 percent of the power that would be possible under sunny skies at high noon.” //
Another “hidden” cost that is often overlooked when it comes to wind and solar is that their intermittent nature “require baseload power facilities like natural gas plants to be cycling and available – racking up costs but selling no power – in the background in case they are needed at a moment’s notice when wind or solar power ramp down.”
Because the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, wind and solar necessitate “cycling in the background, which adds to the cost of operating natural gas power plants, even though wind and solar power are gaining the sales and imposing those additional operating costs on natural gas power.” //
Wind and solar power pose unique threats to open spaces and species protection. It requires approximately 60 square miles of solar panels to generate the same amount of power as a conventional power plant. It requires approximately 320 square miles of wind turbines to do the same.” //
the best way to analyze the actual cost of power sources is called the Levelized Full System Costs of Electricity (LFCOE).
Applying the LFCOE, “using the relatively wind-friendly and solar-friendly geography of Texas as a baseline, is as follows, in dollars per megawatt-hour: natural gas: $40; coal: $90; biomass: $117; nuclear: $122; wind: $291; solar: $413.”
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/electricity_generation/pdf/AEO2023_LCOE_report.pdf
Opal @opalescentopal.bsky.social
With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.
July 27, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Opal @opalescentopal.bsky.social· 10d
I worked as a mathematician at the NSA during the second Obama administration and the first half of the first Trump administration. I had long enjoyed Tom Lehrer's music, and I knew he had worked for the NSA during the Korean War era.
The NSA's research directorate has an electronic library, so I eventually figured, what the heck, let's see if we can find anything he published internally!
And I found a few articles I can't comment on. But there was one unclassified article-- "Gambler's Ruin With Soft-Hearted Adversary".
The paper was co-written by Lehrer and R. E. Fagen, published in January, 1957.
The mathematical content is pretty interesting, but that's not what stuck out to me when I read it.
See, the paper cites FIVE sources throughout its body. But the bibliography lists SIX sources.
What's the leftover?
Well, you can look through the entirety of the body of the paper. It'll take you a while, but you can pretty quickly pick up that sources 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are all cited.
But if you know anything about Lehrer's musical career, you can probably figure it out by looking at the bibliography.
See, entry 3 in the bibliography is "Analytic and Algebraic Topology of Locally Euclidean Metrizations of Infinitely Differentiable Riemannian Manifolds" by one N. Lobachevsky.
And if you've ever heard Leher's song "Lobachevsky", you may have just finished that title with "Bozhe moi!"
Now, it's important to note: this paper was published internally in 1957. Tom Lehrer had recorded and released "Songs by Tom Lehrer" in 1953, with "Lobachevsky" included. The song had already achieved some success.
...but nobody at the NSA noticed when he and Fagan dropped it in as a reference.b
It struck me as a very Lehrer-ish sort of prank. It's harmless, it's light-hearted, and it thumbs its nose a bit at stuffy respectability through its unfailing pretense of seriousness.
How had other people reacted to the joke, I wondered?
So I sent an email to the NSA historians. And I asked them: hey, when was this first noticed, and how much of a gas did people think it was? Did he get in trouble for it? That sort of stuff.
The answer came back: "We've never heard of this before. It's news to us."
In November of 2016, nearly 60 years after the paper was published internally, I had discovered the joke.
A few years later, I filed to have the paper declassified, and the NSA eventually agreed, and even put it up on their webpage:
media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/14/...
https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/14/2002762807/-1/-1/0/GAMBLERS-RUIN.PDF/GAMBLERS-RUIN.PDF
Rich Fagen @richfagen.bsky.social
· 9d
Thank you for posting this amazing story. My father (R.E. Fagen) was the co-author of this article with Tom. They worked together at "No Such Agency" and co-authored a few papers that were published in scholarly journals. (Scroll to the bottom on Tom's Wikipedia page under Publications).
//
https://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/tom-lehrer
Looking For Tom Lehrer, Comedy's Mysterious Genius
Tom Lehrer is considered one of the most influential figures in comedy — despite a body of work consisting of just 37 pitch-black songs and a career that stopped abruptly when the counterculture he he...
fsandow.bsky.social @fsandow.bsky.social
· 10d
And for those who haven’t seen his contributions to The Electric Company, an educational kids’ show from the 70s:
https://youtu.be/dB2Ff8H7oVo?si=WGXhQjGnqbBqFDqs
Tom Lehrer - "L-Y"
YouTube video by Edgar Aldrett
youtu.be
o track and visualize tasks easier and faster, use timeline view.
Timeline view is an interactive visual layer in Sheets that can help you manage many project parts, such as:
- Project tasks
- Marketing campaigns
- Schedules
- Cross-team collaborations
But on that Tuesday in April 2022, a compound in the substance called mitragynine took McKibban’s life, an autopsy report later showed. //
an 'all-natural' supplement you can buy at...
5 everyday foods and drinks silently damaging your long-term health, say nutrition experts5 everyday foods and drinks silently damaging your long-term...
I'm a neuroscientist — this 'one-page miracle' can boost brain health, plus why I nicknamed my mind 'Hermie'I'm a neuroscientist — this 'one-page miracle' can boost brain...
Health
exclusive
Our sons died taking an ‘all-natural’ supplement you can buy at gas stations — people don’t realize it’s so addictive and dangerous
By Anna Medaris
Published Aug. 6, 2025, 8:00 a.m. ET
Today's Video Headlines
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00:51
Months before Jordan McKibban collapsed in his bathroom and never woke up, the 37-year-old prepared smoked salmon and home-grown canned peppers to entertain his big, blended family in their quiet Washington state community.
Weeks before, he told his mom, Pam Mauldin, things were getting serious with the woman he was dating — his “one big desire” to have kids was finally in reach, Mauldin recalled.
Days before, he helped a friend plant a flower garden for a baby shower. “He loved life. He loved doing things outdoors,” Mauldin told The Post.
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Then, on the day of his death, McKibban went to his longtime job at an organic food distributor. When he got home, he mixed a tablespoon of a powdered kratom supplement into his lemonade.
Jordan McKibban preparing meat at a campsite
11
Jordan McKibban died at age 37 while taking kratom, an “all-natural” supplement available online and in stores.
Courtesy Pam Mauldin
Large family group photo including
Jordan McKibban (center in a red baseball cap) and his mother (second from right)
11
Jordan’s mom, Pam Mauldin (second from right), spoke to The Post to warn other parents — and thinks kratom should be pulled from shelves.
Courtesy Pam Mauldin
Marketed as an “all-natural” way to ease pain, anxiety, depression and more, kratom can appeal to health-conscious people like McKibban, who Mauldin says wouldn’t even take ibuprofen for the arthritis in his hands.
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But on that Tuesday in April 2022, a compound in the substance called mitragynine took McKibban’s life, an autopsy report later showed.
When Mauldin broke into his bathroom after a call from her grandson that day, she found McKibban lifeless. She performed CPR on her own son and shielded her eyes when medics carried his gray body away.
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5 everyday foods and drinks silently damaging your long-term health, say nutrition experts
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I'm a neuroscientist — this 'one-page miracle' can boost brain health, plus why I nicknamed my mind 'Hermie'
Several dozen cases of Vibrio vulnificus and nine deaths have been reported so far this year across Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.
How to protect yourself against flesh-eating bacteria — as deadly infection sweeps 5 states
“I’ve lost my son. I’ve lost my grandchildren that I could have had, I’ve lost watching him walk down that aisle, watching him have a life that I get to watch with my other kids. I’ve lost enjoying these years with him,” Mauldin said.
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“I have to go to the cemetery, and I hate going to the cemetery. He shouldn’t be there,” she added.
From dizziness to nonresponsiveness
Kratom products — sold in powders, gummies and energy-looking drinks — come from a plant native to Southeast Asia and can act like a stimulant at lower doses and a sedative at higher ones.
“Kratom does act like an opioid, and people can become addicted to it and have withdrawal from it and overdose on it.”
Dr. Robert Levy, addiction and family medicine doctor
While they’re readily found online, in brick-and-mortar stores and even gas stations as catch-all solutions to everything from fatigue to opioid withdrawal, the Food and Drug Administration says kratom and its key components are “not lawfully marketed” in the US as a drug product, dietary supplement or food additive. //
Experts are especially concerned with a highly potent, highly addictive kratom offshoot called 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, which seems to have infiltrated the market in the past few years, said Dr. Robert Levy, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota who’s board-certified in both addiction and family medicine. //
just last week, the FDA recommended classifying 7-OH as an illicit substance.
“7-OH is an opioid that can be more potent than morphine,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, said in a press release. “We need regulation and public education to prevent another wave of the opioid epidemic.”
In the meantime, according to Levy, parents should be having open conversations with their kids about the appeals, dangers and addictive potential of kratom — and the fact that “all-natural” or “plant-based” doesn’t necessarily mean safe. “Arsenic is also from a plant,” he says.
Nearly 90% of aid trucks collected by the United Nations along Gaza’s border didn’t make it to their intended destination since mid-May due to looting from starving Palestinians or “forcefully armed actors,” officials said.
The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) found that of the 2,604 aid trucks that entered the war-torn enclave from May 19 to Aug. 5, only 295 vehicles, or 12%, were spared from theft or mass looting, according to the agency’s Monitor & Tracking Dashboard.
Israel has repeatedly blamed Hamas for looting aid trucks, however, the UNOPS report did not name //
Israel has repeatedly denied that its forces have fired on aid-seeking Palestinians, with the military claiming to have only fired warning shots after groups were spotted trying to approach the food sites before they opened. //
As it faces global backlash over the ongoing war, Israel has maintained that the death and suffering falls on Hamas, which has rejected cease-fire deals calling for the terror group to disarm and exit the Gaza Strip.
Hyman's 30-minute talk, while spellbinding, raised issues of feasibility that seemed insurmountable. Would audiophiles want to spend the time required to rip their favorite tracks to a computer's hard drive? And wouldn't a drive large enough to hold high-definition audio files be prohibitively expensive?
Only three years later, Hyman's dream has materialized. Hard-drive storage capacity per price point has jumped almost a hundredfold. Gracenote has become the international leader in digital media technology and services, providing complete management systems for digital media. There has been explosive growth in the number of online music vendors—iTunes.com, Rhapsody.com, Urge.com, and Napster.com, to name a few—that sell or rent downloadable music to music lovers.