Comment Re:Very happy with my Fairphone (Score 2) 77
This suggests EIGHT years. I do agree that Fairphone's website is not helpful!
Submission + - Supply chain issues delaying grid batteries' installation (latimes.com)
Bruce66423 writes: There is a long installation queue for various reasons. The scale is remarkable:
'Nationwide, some 750 gigawatts of energy storage projects — roughly equivalent to the generating capacity of more than 700 nuclear reactors — are in line to get grid connections, according to the lab’s research. Not all of these projects will get built. Many developers already abandoned the queue because of delays. Still, the waiting time is increasing; the median was five years in 2025, up from a year and a half in 2015.'
'Nationwide, some 750 gigawatts of energy storage projects — roughly equivalent to the generating capacity of more than 700 nuclear reactors — are in line to get grid connections, according to the lab’s research. Not all of these projects will get built. Many developers already abandoned the queue because of delays. Still, the waiting time is increasing; the median was five years in 2025, up from a year and a half in 2015.'
Comment Very happy with my Fairphone (Score 3, Interesting) 77
Though as barely a power user in mobiles, that's not hard to achieve. But I do love the commitment to repairability etc. Let's hope big Android vendors start to take the same approach.
Submission + - Face recognition goes wrong in a supermarket (theguardian.com)
Bruce66423 writes: 'Sainsbury’s has paused the use of AI face scanning in one of its stores after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and ejected from the shop.
'“I was embarrassed, mortified even, and felt quite humiliated and powerless,” Matt Arnold, 46, said of his ordeal.
'The comedy promoter was buying supplies in the store in East Dulwich, in south-east London, for a standup event at Dulwich Hamlet football club when, after scanning his items and a Nectar card, he was approached by two managers who told him he could not be served owing to an earlier incident. He was then asked to leave and they tried to escort him from the store.
'As he left, he saw an overhead CCTV monitor alert with a red circle surrounding his face. He asked the shop staff to keep his shopping in the trolley so his friend could come and pick up the supplies for the comedy night happening soon next door.
“I think they were quite confused by this, understandably, but agreed and my colleague Dave went in to pay for and pick up the shop about five minutes later. There was no pause for thought from the staff, no suggestion that they understood this is not how a shoplifter would behave. Just blindly following the machine’s orders.”
'Sainsbury’s head office apologised to Arnold the next day and has paused use of its AI-assisted Facewatch technology in the store while an investigation takes place.
'“I was embarrassed, mortified even, and felt quite humiliated and powerless,” Matt Arnold, 46, said of his ordeal.
'The comedy promoter was buying supplies in the store in East Dulwich, in south-east London, for a standup event at Dulwich Hamlet football club when, after scanning his items and a Nectar card, he was approached by two managers who told him he could not be served owing to an earlier incident. He was then asked to leave and they tried to escort him from the store.
'As he left, he saw an overhead CCTV monitor alert with a red circle surrounding his face. He asked the shop staff to keep his shopping in the trolley so his friend could come and pick up the supplies for the comedy night happening soon next door.
“I think they were quite confused by this, understandably, but agreed and my colleague Dave went in to pay for and pick up the shop about five minutes later. There was no pause for thought from the staff, no suggestion that they understood this is not how a shoplifter would behave. Just blindly following the machine’s orders.”
'Sainsbury’s head office apologised to Arnold the next day and has paused use of its AI-assisted Facewatch technology in the store while an investigation takes place.
Comment Prosperity leads to democracy (Score 1) 165
This pattern has worked in both South Korea and Taiwan, so the assumption was made that the Chinese would similarly move to democracy as their people flourished. This proved to be incorrect, but it's not fair to blame one party for this; everyone assumed it.
The crucial shift was their admission to the World Trade Organisation in about 2000 - which gave them largely unfettered access to Western markets. They have played the game amazingly well - in practice stealing tech from joint enterprises as well as more literally. But they have also become the workshop of the world, massively damaging western industry as a result.
The consensus view of the establishment is now that China is a major threat. But this has taken a long time to sink in, and there are relatively few easy ways to put pressure on the CCP. The most we can hope for is that the growing issues such as a massive numerical imbalance of young men and young women, as well growing youth unemployment will lead to a collapse. But that's not a happy thought.
Submission + - Jellyfish knock out French nuclear plant (latimes.com)
Bruce66423 writes: 'A “massive influx” of jellyfish has forced Electricite de France to shut three units at its Gravelines nuclear power plant and reduce output at a fourth, curbing power supply at a time when extremely hot weather is boosting demand. That’s taken some 3.2 gigawatts of capacity offline.
'Last year, it faced similar problems when swarms of jellyfish clogged up filter drums.'
The SF plot line question is: what did it do to upset the jellyfish? The more prosaic one is to ask why they didn't do something about the jellyfish after last year's problem?
'Last year, it faced similar problems when swarms of jellyfish clogged up filter drums.'
The SF plot line question is: what did it do to upset the jellyfish? The more prosaic one is to ask why they didn't do something about the jellyfish after last year's problem?
Submission + - BMJ retracts paper it 'did not reflect scientific consensus' (telegraph.co.uk)
Bruce66423 writes: The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has been accused of damaging scientific integrity after retracting a paper which suggested that Covid vaccines may have been to blame for some excess deaths during the pandemic.
In 2024, a group in the Netherlands published a paper in BMJ Public Health, warning that some pandemic deaths may have been caused by the indirect effects of containment measures and vaccination programmes, and calling for further investigation.
The work was peer reviewed for nine months, and accepted as accurate by the BMJ, the UK’s leading medical journal. However, it was retracted this week after a slew of complaints and an investigation by the Princess Máxima Centre in Utrecht, where three of the four authors worked.
The investigation found no evidence of malicious intent, fabrication or falsification of data, but still labelled the work as misleading and selective because it “did not reflect scientific consensus”, and had disproportionately focused on the negative effects of vaccination.
In 2024, a group in the Netherlands published a paper in BMJ Public Health, warning that some pandemic deaths may have been caused by the indirect effects of containment measures and vaccination programmes, and calling for further investigation.
The work was peer reviewed for nine months, and accepted as accurate by the BMJ, the UK’s leading medical journal. However, it was retracted this week after a slew of complaints and an investigation by the Princess Máxima Centre in Utrecht, where three of the four authors worked.
The investigation found no evidence of malicious intent, fabrication or falsification of data, but still labelled the work as misleading and selective because it “did not reflect scientific consensus”, and had disproportionately focused on the negative effects of vaccination.
Comment I said 'twitchy' (Score 1) 58
i.e. feeling they should be as unavailable for abuse as possible. Yet it's clear there is growing evidence of scenarios where they are effective cures, so the need to make them somewhat available is a lot stronger.
Comment Fair question (Score 1) 58
The fact of psycho active drugs destroying people completely - most famously Syd Barret, the first lead singer of Pink Floyd - makes me twitchy about them. But perhaps reserving them to 'last resort' is inappropriate. Thanks for the question.
Comment About time too (Score 4, Interesting) 58
It's clear that these psycho active drugs should have the same status Electro-Convulsive therapy - to be resorted to when nothing else works. The willingness to use ECT but not these chemicals is a prejudice driven mistake.
Comment Good response but you then get on your hobby horse (Score 1) 83
You were doing great until the sentence starting 'money'. If you'd stopped then, it would have been much better!
Comment The education blob effect (Score 1) 83
Almost by definition those who are teachers, and especially in senior leadership roles, are the ones who did well at school and feel that it was a positive environment for them. They have this idea that kids have any significant interest in learning. Before AI kids had to engage a bit to pass; now they can (more easily) cheat.
Modern technology is enabling options - such as remote attendance at 'classes' that are in practice non-interactive lectures - which challenge the education blob. Most of them don't have the imagination to consider alternatives - look at the response to the evidence that later starts improve high school results - or realise that their jobs are on the line so prefer to avoid opening up the root to their own redundancy. Add in the resistance of parents who will expect their kids to be taught like them, and nothing is going to change without some big changes. The result will be ever more cynical and unmotivated children in our schools and ever poorer real outcomes, though those will be hidden by grade inflation and the standard solution to that - fixed proportions of students getting certain grades.
Comment Re:Us number plates are hard to read (Score 1) 115
Hmmm....
Given that there is little prospect of the deep state giving up its toys, the debate comes down to a question of whether it's better to reduce false positives. On THAT basis the UK/EU style wins. OTOH false positives are what allows campaigners about the system to build up a case against it. So is it better that a few should suffer in order that there is a better chance for freedom for the masses?
Comment Us number plates are hard to read (Score 3, Informative) 115
By contrast the UK and EU standard requirements are far more legible.
https://static.wixstatic.com/m...
US pattern
Comment Credit where credit is due (Score 1) 22
The decision to ensure that 911 services could be run by the county is the local system collapsed shows solid contingency planning.
