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highenergystar

60 karma · joined August 5, 2017

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highenergystar··on Lytro Unlock – Making a bad camera slightly better
I wonder if a lytro could be attached to a full frame DSLR and take the 'same' picture as the DSLR, and augment the DSLRs picture with the depth field info captured by the lytro ...
highenergystar··on Marc Andreessen on Investing and Tech
It's difficult to speak off-the-cuff on any topic that might come up in an interview, but I expected better than 'at least it's not boring' about QAnon when attempting to reply on the social impacts of technology.

Social media definitely has negative impacts (e.g. directly tied to mobs in India and Burma) and positive impacts (so much easier to stay connected across the world) - it would've been 'interesting' to hear a more nuanced take from one of the inventors of the modern internet

highenergystar··on $100M xPrize for Carbon Removal
It seems like the only things that can 1. work at a planetary scale 2. mitigate our multi-year (and growing) emission problem 3. not on an energy flywheel (consume a significant amount of energy, mined resources or themselves emit significant waste heat)

have to rely directly on solar energy (not intermediated by PV cell). To this end azolla ferns [1] and olivine weathering seem to be the most promising.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azolla_event

highenergystar··on Scientists develop ‘cheap and easy’ method to extract lithium from seawater
Put the lithium plant on a barge and tug it around without lingering too long in any one spot.
highenergystar··on Analysis of blood markers predicts human lifespan limit
I can't vouch for it's accuracy, but here is a 'phenoage' calculator I came across while chasing down this rabbithole (after reading the paper) a couple of days ago https://www.oliverzolman.com/phenoage-calculator
highenergystar··on Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior from Sequential Images [pdf]
Are there really sequencers the size of a USB stick? A google search didn't show any, could you point me to a source?
highenergystar··on My apartment was built on toxic waste
I don't see it mentioned here, but I wonder if the trees around the apartment are transpiring the vocs that are absorbed from the (potentially) contaminated water. That would be a way these vocs reach her 3rd floor apt, and also may be why her particular apartment is affected more than others.in the building (proximity to a particular tree?)
highenergystar··on US passes anti-corruption law that effectively bans anonymous shell companies
It's not a bad law - but will probably catch high income professionals and small business owners who're trying to hide assets from tax authorities, shield them from legal liability or in the event of divorce etc. Sophisticated crooks will probably setup as business trading cos who will swap businesses and/or high value real estate and recognize those as revenue - and can probably use the transaction to claim depreciation and/or section 1031 tax benefits
highenergystar··on Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
The exhaust was engine rich :)
highenergystar··on Tiny bubbles under a ship may help reduce fuel consumption
I wonder whether a somewhat scrubbed exhaust could be piped into the bubble system.
highenergystar··on Data Broker Opt-Out List
I'm curious if anyone has any info on the business model here. There seems to be a ridiculous number of data brokers, so with this amount of competition, the marginal profit must be low. Online advertisers probably get better bank for buck just using Google's or Facebook's pre-targeted profiles. Banks and financial institutions and real background checks probably stick with the few big ones (credit bureaus, or lexis nexis etc.) Is this for snail mail spam? Telemarketers? Stalkers?
highenergystar··on Universal Basic Income is Capitalism 2.0
It seems that the current model of of the economy with inflation and growth targets is ripe for revision.

It has pernicious effects of causing 'growth for growth sake' including a vast infrastructure of wasteful spending - e.g. crop subsidies, fuel subsidies etc., millions of bullshit jobs[1] and an overall bias to create and foster consumption based economies.

That model was fine for a time of population expansion and little concern for co-ordination problems (e.g. environmental impacts, labor exploitation). In a time of rapidly slowing population growth (in developed and even many developing countries) and to avoid disruptions due to climate crises, the focus should be to improve the efficiency of the workforce, and direct that workforce to work on the several jobs that desperately need to be done - restore infrastructure, research and deploy efficient and clean technology and remediate (to the extent possible) the environment. If there is still productive capacity left over, it could be spent on reducing tail risk (e.g. viruses)

https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/

highenergystar··on Sensors detect rise in nuclear particles on Baltic Sea
Could this be from the test of the nuclear powered hypersonic missile that Russia is developing [0]? Those things aren't designed to 'land' no pun intended

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/9M730_Burevestnik