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Comment In practice, nope. And what about the ash? (Score 1) 86

by j3p0 (#62560486) Attached to: Can We Generate Renewable Energy by Burning Trash?

Not the oldest trash to energy site in the US, Win Waste Innovation in Saugus MA. Their innovation is excess Nitrogen Oxides from their incineration exhaust and they get away with it by buying credits, but we still get to breath it.

Their ash goes in a unlined landfill that was scheduled to close in the 1980's. And it's in an environmentally sensitive wetland area.

For every four tons of waste that are incinerated, one ton of ash is created. This ash is filled with heavy metals and toxic chemicals like mercury, cadmium, arsenic, lead and dioxins, and like other waste, it still needs to be transported and disposed of. In the case of the Saugus Win Waste in Massachusetts, it is dumped in a 50-foot unlined landfill in the “protected” Rumney Marshes. When the marshes flood, the Win Waste facility and its landfill become an island, surrounded by water. This location is vulnerable to coastal storms, flooding and rising sea levels due to climate change. This is a tragedy waiting to happen and poses a serious threat to public health and our environment.
https://www.wastetodaymagazine...
Privacy

'Apple Thinks My Own AirPods are Stalking Me' (zdnet.com) 48

Posted by EditorDavid from the me-myself-and-iPad dept.
MacRumors reports that Apple has begun a staggered rollout of a new firmware update (which will go fully live to everyone on May 13.) Here's how Apple's describes how it will change the lost-device-tracking AirTags: "Currently, iOS users receiving an unwanted tracking alert can play a sound to help them find the unknown AirTag. We will be adjusting the tone sequence to use more of the loudest tones to make an unknown AirTag more easily findable."
That'll make them easier to find — but some people have a different problem. This ZDNet reporter keeps getting notifications on their iPad trying to warn them about their own AirPod earbuds. The warning is totally erroneous. These are my AirPods Pro, which I have had for years now. I was able to verify they are mine by using the iPad to play a sound on the AirPods.

Apple's technology doesn't know these are my own AirPods.

The strange behavior began to appear in February. I am not alone in experiencing this annoying mistaken alert. Apple's AirPods support user forum shows several individuals in recent months with the same frustration... "It still happens several times a day. I'm getting annoyed. I get it on my phone and my iPad everytime I open the case and use my AirPods. I play the sound to be sure its really mine and it is indeed mine."

There are numerous examples of this....

Users have also reported the problem with their AirTags not being recognized. "I get constant notifications that an air tag is near me, but it turns out it's my tags. Shouldn't my phone know the difference?" writes Joe Thomas 3 on February 8th....

It's worth noting that Apple has posted a note that promises "a series of updates that we plan to introduce later this year," which include something such as "precision finding" for AirTags, and "Refining unwanted tracking alert logic."
The Military

Russians Plundered $5M Farm Vehicles from Ukraine - to Find They've Been Remotely Disabled (cnn.com) 125

Posted by EditorDavid from the to-Russia-with-love dept.
CNN cites a local source imagining the surprise of the looters of a Ukranian farm equipment dealership who'd transported some heavy machines over 700 miles to Russia. "They realized that they could not even turn them on, because the harvesters were locked remotely."

CNN adds that "The equipment now appears to be languishing at a farm near Grozny." Over the past few weeks there's been a growing number of reports of Russian troops stealing farm equipment, grain and even building materials — beyond widespread looting of residences. But the removal of valuable agricultural equipment from a John Deere dealership in Melitopol speaks to an increasingly organized operation, one that even uses Russian military transport as part of the heist. CNN has learned that the equipment was removed from an Agrotek dealership in Melitopol, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early March. Altogether it's valued at nearly $5 million. The combine harvesters alone are worth $300,000 each....

The contact said the process began with the seizure of two combine harvesters, a tractor and a seeder. Over the next few weeks, everything else was removed: in all 27 pieces of farm machinery. One of the flat-bed trucks used, and caught on camera, had a white "Z" painted on it and appeared to be a military truck. The contact said there were rival groups of Russian troops: some would come in the morning and some in the evening.

Some of the machinery was taken to a nearby village, but some of it embarked on a long overland journey to Chechnya more than 700 miles away. The sophistication of the machinery, which are equipped with GPS, meant that its travel could be tracked....
The end result? "After a journey of more than 700 miles, the thieves were unable to use any of the equipment — because it had been locked remotely."
Idle

50 Years Later: a Rebirth for Polaroid's 'Instant Cameras'? (fastcompany.com) 46

Posted by EditorDavid from the click-whirrrrr dept.
In 1972, photo prints that developed before your eyes were "downright magical," argues Fast Company — "and still meaningful today."

A new article at Fast Company points out that while Polaroid went bankrupt twice, and stopped making cameras in 2007, "Then an unexpected thing happened: It turned out that even Polaroid couldn't kill Polaroid." Even as instant photography's eulogies were being written, a band of enthusiasts known as The Impossible Project bought the last Polaroid factory that hadn't been hastily dismantled and started producing film packs again. The task required reformulating its own chemistry from scratch, and it was years until the results reached the vicinity of original Polaroid quality. Fans were very patient.

Eventually, the Impossible Project and Polaroid came under the same ownership, adopted Polaroid as the unified brand, and started making instant cameras again. The new models start at $100 and look a lot like that 1977 OneStep, even when they're adorably miniaturized. It's almost as if Polaroid's years in limbo were a bad dream.... Polaroid and several smaller companies refurbish old models, replacing worn parts and otherwise returning them to optimum performance. Repairing an SX-70 generally involves permanently removing its leather, but replacement skins are available in an array of styles, from the traditional to the psychedelic.

Increasingly, yesteryear's Polaroid cameras are springing back to life in surprising ways. Wisconsin-based Retrospekt not only revives old models, but also encases antique innards in new plastic shells, allowing it to sell branding crossovers such as Malibu Barbie and Pepsi-themed Polaroid cameras. Hong Kong's Mint offers a camera called the SLR670 that's really a restored SX-70 accompanied by a gizmo that plugs into the flash port to allow for manual settings. And Open SX-70 is a project to smarten up the SX-70 by replacing its 1970s circuit board with a tiny Arduino computer.
Other things I learned from the article:
  • "Each film pack contained its own battery, so the camera would never run out of juice at an inopportune moment."
  • Kodak was forced out of the instant photography market in 1986 by a Polaroid patent infringement suit in which Polaroid won $925 million in damages.
  • Edwin Land's "final gambit to revolutionize photography" was 1977's wildly unpopular Polavision instant home movies.
  • There's a 1974 ad for the cameras narrated by Laurence Olivier.

Comment Re:Unfortunately, the robots do the wrong thing .. (Score 1) 208

by j3p0 (#52386421) Attached to: Robot Pizza Company 'Zume' Wants To Be 'Amazon of Food'

Oh right... as if the software couldn't be rigged to rip you off the same way. Boy are you trusting.

In the real world, more vegetable toppings make the pizza take longer to cook, and the vegetables contain a lot of water diminishing the crispiness of the pizza because the water can't cook off before the bottom of the pizza is perfect. Sometimes the pizzaiolo (or feminine: pizzaiola) is doing you a favor by not fucking up your mush, pepper, onion, zucchini, and (perish the thought)...pineapple.

Comment If it's gambling... (Score 1) 125

by j3p0 (#50906617) Attached to: Fantasy Sports Sites Ordered To Stop Taking Bets In New York State

If it's gambling, then explain: "the top 1 percent of DraftKings winners receive the vast majority of the winnings."
Wouldn't there be a more even distribution of winners?
It could be that there's some combination of skill and chance like blackjack. But then it's gambling.
I'm a libertarian and I'm OK with being treated like an adult, so I would favor legalization.

Don't' get me wrong, I'm sick of seeing their commercials constantly and the participation of major league sports doesn't seem kosher.
and the electronic media who is the beneficiary of hundreds of millions in ad revenue seems to be mostly silent in this discussion.

Comment Total of Time Saved (in days) (Score 1) 262

by j3p0 (#49341009) Attached to: RadioShack Puts Customer Data Up For Sale In Bankruptcy Auction

At some point in the 80's I stopped giving them the info as I figured out given how often I went to Rat Shack, by the time I died I would have saved myself about two weeks of agony.
I didn't foresee the internet and was overly optimistic about Shadio Rack's retail smarts, but I'll bet I made myself a nice weekend.

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