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Comment Re:Why? (Score 2) 85

by Bueller_007 (#60502600) Attached to: AstraZeneca Resumes Coronavirus Vaccine Study

Your reference is from March 17, 2020, which means that it is grossly outdated.

It doesn't make sense to compare the "crude mortality ratio" (usually called the case fatality rate) for two diseases, because the case fatality rate depends heavily on the proportion of asymptomatic infections and how much testing is taking place. To accurately compare fatality, you need to consider the infection fatality rate, not the case fatality rate. For COVID-19, there are an extremely high number of asymptomatic infections; only about 15% of infections go detected. We now know that the infection fatality rate for COVID-19 is somewhere close to 0.6%, which makes it about 5-10x deadlier than seasonal influenza, although impacts differ by age group.

It also doesn't make sense to say what the R0 for a virus is without context... R0 is not an implicit aspect of the virus; it depends explicitly on population density, control measures, the proportion of the population that is already infected or immune, etc. The entire purpose of lockdown, masking, and all the other control measures was to get the R0 below zero so that infections would decrease. Further, the R0 was probably much higher than was initially suggested because asymptomatic infections were spreading rapidly and went undetected.

Submission + - Power Utility Invested in Tech that Violates the First Law of Thermodynamics 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From 2016 to 2019, NB Power, the electrical utility for the Canadian province of New Brunswick, invested $13 million dollars in Florida-based hydrogen fuel company Joi Scientific. The company claimed that it had developed technology that could generate hydrogen fuel from seawater at a 200% efficiency rate, a rate that would reportedly violate the First Law of Thermodynamics if true. The company recently announced that their technology only works at ~10% of their previously described efficiency, meaning that it consumes energy rather than producing it.

According to a former Joi Scientific employee, the company's technology is based partially on the work of Stanley Meyer, a discredited inventor who was successfully sued by his investors in an Ohio court for having defrauded investors with a "water fuel cell" that actually produced hydrogen through simple electrolysis. Joi Scientific announced during a call to investors during the summer of 2019 that the technology did not work as described and that they were running low on funding.

As a crown corporation, $6.7 million dollars of NB Power's investment in Joi Scientific came from taxpayers. The remainder came from an annual R&D fund that is likely to be financed directly by ratepayers.

Does NB Power's investment in this technology speak to a larger problem of scientific illiteracy among CEOs and other businesspeople? What is the solution?

Submission + - Details of "Meltdown" and "Spectre" Attacks Against Intel & AMD Chips Disclo (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Researchers have disclosed technical details of two new attack methods that exploit critical flaws in CPUs from Intel, AMD and other vendors. They claim billions of devices are vulnerable, allowing malicious actors to gain access to passwords and other sensitive data without leaving a trace.

There have been reports over the past few days about a critical flaw in Intel CPUs that allows an attacker to gain access to kernel space memory. It turns out that there are actually two different attacks and researchers say one of them impacts AMD and ARM processors as well.

The attack methods, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre by researchers, rely on hardware design flaws and they allow malicious applications installed on a device to access data as it’s being processed. This can include passwords stored in a password manager or web browser, photos, documents, emails, and data from instant messaging apps.

Submission + - Intel x86-64 CPUs facing 5% to 30% slowdown after critical security fix. (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by JustNiz
JustNiz writes: A fundamental design flaw in Intel's processor chips has forced a significant redesign of the Linux and Windows kernels to defang the chip-level security bug. The flaw is in the Intel x86-64 hardware, and it appears a microcode update can't address it. It has to be fixed in software at the OS level, or go buy a new processor without the design blunder.

Comment Re:Woman dominated professions? (Score 2) 642

Industrial welders can make six-figures easily. (Work on an oil rig.) Truck drivers and heavy machinery operators also.

And PS, so can nurses (at least in much of Canada), with just a bit of overtime.

Are you that white-collar that you have no idea that blue-collar people can actually earn quite well?

Submission + - Google may be in trouble for firing James Damore 1

Submitted by taustin
taustin writes: Whether Demore is right or wrong, whether one agrees with him or not, Google may have legal trouble for firing him.

Employees are protected by federal law when they discuss working conditions with other employees (and this was an internal memo). His memo could be considered whistle blowing, which is also protected (and it is very clear that he was fired as retribution). And, in California, political opinions are protected in the work place as well.

Just because one side is wrong doesn't mean the other side is right.

Submission + - Google employee fired over diversity row considers legal action (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The computer engineer fired by Google for suggesting women are less suited to certain roles in tech and leadership is considering taking legal action against the company.

James Damore, a chess master who studied at Harvard, Princeton and MIT and worked at the search engine’s Mountain View HQ in California, caused outrage when he circulated a manifesto at the weekend complaining about Google’s “ideological echo chamber” and claiming women have lower tolerance of stress and that conservatives are more conscientious.

He was fired on Monday after the search giant’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said portions of Damore’s 10-page memo “violate our code of conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes”.

Damore has now said he would “likely be pursuing legal action”.

Submission + - SPAM: North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, crossing a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power, U.S. intelligence officials have concluded in a confidential assessment.

The new analysis completed last month by the Defense Intelligence Agency comes on the heels of another intelligence assessment that sharply raises the official estimate for the total number of bombs in the communist country’s atomic arsenal.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Google Fires Author of Divisive Memo on Gender Differences (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Alphabet Inc.’s Google has fired an employee who wrote an internal memo blasting the web company’s diversity policies, creating a firestorm across Silicon Valley. James Damore, the Google engineer who wrote the note, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” Earlier on Monday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a note to employees that said portions of the memo “violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.” But he didn’t say if the company was taking action against the employee. A Google representative, asked about the dismissal, referred to Pichai’s memo. Damore’s 10-page memorandum accused Google of silencing conservative political opinions and argued that biological differences play a role in the shortage of women in tech and leadership positions. It circulated widely inside the company and became public over the weekend, causing a furor that amplified the pressure on Google executives to take a more definitive stand. After the controversy swelled, Danielle Brown, Google’s new vice president for diversity, integrity and governance, sent a statement to staff condemning Damore’s views and reaffirmed the company’s stance on diversity. In internal discussion boards, multiple employees said they supported firing the author, and some said they would not choose to work with him, according to postings viewed by Bloomberg News.

Submission + - Google Has Reportedly Fired The Employee Who Wrote That Viral Essay On Diversity (bloomberg.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Bloomberg reports that the employee behind the essay that went viral has been fired after having been identified by management. The individual, James Damore, tells Bloomberg that the reason for his termination was for "perpetuating gender stereotypes." As of this posting, Google has not confirmed the action with any news organization.

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