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Comment another way around internet blockage (Score 1) 123

Known VPN services have identifiable server addresses that can be blocked. Instead, you can set up a cheap raspberry pi (or other) at your home and use an encrypted SSH connection to that [raspberry pi] from far away. Then turn on your SOCKS proxy (part of WiFi Details on Macintosh) and check to see that your IP address shows to the world you access as that of your raspberry pi. I do this all the time, including right now. It also helps to watch sports events.

Comment Re:.3um (Score 2) 391

I agree smaller dose intuitively means less of a hazard of an infection putting down roots before the immune system wipes it out. However, I've never seen data for this.

IIRC coronavirus particles were around 0.1 um, but the virus would fall apart traveling bare. N95 do filter in that range in any event, just not at the advertised and tested level of an N95's 95% @ 0.3 um (you can get N100s which don't quite hit 100%; it's a rounding thing). Aerosols are typically much larger, 1+ um up, then transition to visible droplets around 20-100 um.

Comment Re: never underestimate stupidity (Score 2) 391

I'm afraid another pivotal concern may have been costs: inferior masks such as surgical are much cheaper. So, here in Virginia the hospital admin logic went, the mask they chose should be the standard for all purposes (our hospital required visitors to give up their personal N95s for a surgical mask, which was at least free).

As even more damning evidence of institutional thinking, the same hospital network required my PCP to wear a mask for telemedicine visits. I burst out laughing when I saw him and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but are y'all familiar with the germ theory of disease?" He apologized and said the rule simply was that all patient-facing meeting required a mask. So there, standards.

Comment Re:No Backup? (Score 2) 72

I read that as "landing *system* failure". If a plane's engines die it can glide; if its landing gear fails to deploy it can still perform a controlled belly landing; if it's approaching at a bad trajectory it can take another go-around.

Starship has redundant landing engines (at least one prototype landing test failure was because it wasn't prepared to *use* the redundant engines; lesson learned...), but unless they're keeping better ideas secret, the current backup plan if a trajectory goes bad is "fall in the ocean, tip over uncontrolled, and hope not to explode", and the backup plan if a tower catch fails (they're basically putting the landing gear on the *ground* rather than on the vehicle!) is "try again until a slim propellant margin runs dry, then fall onto concrete".

If Starship works at all, this shouldn't be a long-term problem, I think. They'll have loads of opportunities to iteratively improve the system once they're flying it unmanned every week. They may never get to 1-in-a-hundred-billion commercial aircraft risk levels, but they'll be under the 1-in-250 levels that astronauts tolerate in no time.

Submission + - Slashdot Alum Samzenpus's Fractured Veil Hits Kickstarter

CmdrTaco writes: Long time Slashdot readers remember Samzenpus,who posted over 17,000 stories here, sadly crushing my record in the process! What you might NOT know is that he was frequently the Dungeon Master for D&D campaigns played by the original Slashdot crew, and for the last few years he has been applying these skills with fellow Slashdot editorial alum Chris DiBona to a Survival game called Fractured Veil. It's set in a post apocalyptic Hawaii with a huge world based on real map data to explore, as well as careful balance between PVP & PVE. I figured a lot of our old friends would love to help them meet their kickstarter goal and then help us build bases and murder monsters! The game is turning into something pretty great and I'm excited to see it in the wild!

Comment Re:No Autonomy (Score 2) 125

You might have missed that Musk made the same claim about 2016, with the 1-camera sensor system. The 2017 claim was with the newer 8-camera system, and the claim was made before Tesla even had software for the new sensors, and the Tesla then lacked adaptive cruise control, adaptive high beam, self parking, summon, and other things that the prior model did have. I'm embarrassed that I actually believed these claims.

Comment To hell with them. (Score 4, Insightful) 277

I live in a city that is overwhelmed by cruise ship passengers every summer, and I'd be happy to see the cruise ship companies die. They do everything in their power to avoid paying any local taxes and fees, have bought out or driven out of business most local businesses that cater to their passengers, hire as few locals as possible during the tourist season, and a list of sins longer than I can remember.

And really, the list of reasons why not to bail them out should only need one item: They're not American companies. Let them as Liberia or whatever country they're registered in bail them out.

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