Links für 2024 KW 20#
Zusammengefasst von LlongOrca.
This article provides alternative expressions to avoid overusing intensifiers like „very“ in English. It suggests using more descriptive and context-specific synonyms to enhance language variety and convey meaning more effectively. The article also mentions a tool that generates synonyms for the most commonly used phrases.
Why are People are So Angry? – Grey Enlightenment:
The article discusses the prevalence of anger and dissatisfaction in society, citing factors such as economic difficulties, psychological effects from viral content, and political divides. It also mentions how technology has contributed to a decrease in social trust and an increase in individual anxiety. The author argues that there are fewer opportunities for success and satisfaction due to the „elite overproduction“ hypothesis, with many highly educated individuals being unable to find suitable career paths or academic positions. Additionally, the article suggests that economic conditions may continue to worsen, leading to more psychological strain and anxiety among people.
How Airline Lobbyists Just Got Humiliated:
The airline industry has been a leader in irritating customers due to various factors, including deregulation and the lack of consumer protections. Airlines have been stiffing people out of tens of billions for years by not offering refunds when flights are canceled. Recently, Congress passed a law mandating automatic refunds if a flight is canceled and passengers are not rebooked. The new rule takes the onus off the passenger and puts it onto the airline, which can implement automated systems for refunding customers automatically when necessary. This marks a significant victory for consumer advocates and underscores the importance of good political leadership, smart journalism, and genuine policy knowledge within government.
Das Verteidigungsministerium in Deutschland hat drei Vorschläge zur Wehrpflicht erarbeitet, die im Artikel beschrieben werden. Der erste Vorschlag sieht einen freiwilligen Wehrdienst vor, während der zweite eine Wiedervereinigung mit einer grundgesetzkonformen Auswahlpflicht für Männer und die Einführung eines Zivildienstes vorsieht. Der dritte Vorschlag schlägt eine geschlechtsneutrale Wehrpflicht vor und schließt später eine allgemeine Dienstpflicht ein, die auch Feuerwehren, Sanitätsdienste oder das Technische Hilfswerk umfasst. Die Kostenfrage bleibt jedoch noch offen, und bis zur Entscheidung soll eine Kontingent-Wehrpflicht eingeführt werden.
Query semi-structured data in Databricks:
This article describes how to query and transform semi-structured data stored as JSON using Databricks SQL operators. It explains how to create tables with highly nested data, extract columns from fields containing JSON strings, cast values, handle null behavior in JSON fields, and use Spark SQL built-in functions for working with complex and nested data.
GitHub - jpriebe/hotdeath: Android port of Hot Death Uno:
The article discusses a variation of the popular card game, Uno, called Hot Death. Developed by an enthusiast, the game was ported from Visual Basic for Windows to Pocket PC, and now it is available for Android as an open-source project under the GPL license.
Which Microwaves Are Not Made in China?:
Amana is an American company that produces kitchen appliances, including high-end commercial lines made in the USA and medium duty microwaves available worldwide, manufactured in Korea. These commercial microwaves are generally louder, lack a glass plate at the bottom, but offer increased power and easier cleaning compared to other models.
Image Recognition: The Basics and Use Cases (2024 Guide) - viso.ai:
This article covers image recognition, an application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer vision. Image recognition with deep learning is a key application of AI vision and is used in various real-world use cases today. It describes the basic concepts and how it works, traditional and modern deep learning image recognition, best popular image recognition algorithms, how to use Python for image recognition, examples and deep learning applications, and popular image recognition software. The article also discusses Viso Suite, an end-to-end computer vision platform that enables organizations worldwide to build, deploy, scale, and secure all their computer vision applications on one infrastructure.
The article covers various topics related to deep learning, machine learning, and neural networks. Some key points discussed include the Annotated Transformer, the Unreasonable Effectiveness of RNNs, Understanding LSTM Networks, Recurrent Neural Network Regularization, Pointer Networks, ImageNet Classification with Deep CNNs, GPipe for efficient training of giant neural networks, Deep Residual Learning for image recognition, Multi-Scale Context Aggregation by Dilated Convolutions, Neural Quantum Chemistry, Attention Is All You Need, Neural Machine Translation, Identity Mappings in Deep Residual Networks, and a Simple NN Module for Relational Reasoning. The article also discusses Scaling Laws for Neural LMs, Minimum Description Length Principle, and Machine Super Intelligence Dissertation.
French post office releases scratch-and-sniff baguette stamp:
The French Post Office has introduced a scratch-and-sniff postage stamp to celebrate the baguette, which President Emmanuel Macron called „250 grams of magic and perfection.“ The €1.96 stamp features a decorated baguette with a red, white, and blue ribbon, and has a print run of 594,000 copies. Sold by Parisian shop Le Carre d’encre, the stamps have a „bakery scent“ thanks to microcapsules in the ink that release fragrance when scratched. The stamps went on sale after a launch on Saint-Honoré Day, the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs.
3,000 Best Free Movies on YouTube Playlist - LearnOutLoud.com:
The article discusses a massive YouTube playlist with over 3,000 of the best free movies on YouTube, compiled by the author of LearnOutLoud.com and hosted on their LearnOutLoud YouTube channel. The playlist took five years to create and includes feature-length films from various genres across film history, with most of them being legally free on YouTube. It can be sorted by „Date published (newest)“ for easy browsing, although the YouTube mobile app only allows viewing up to 2,000 movies. The author also mentions creating a separate playlist for over 300 documentaries available on YouTube in 2024.
Title:GDPR: Is it worth it? Perceptions of workers who have experienced its implementation:
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is viewed positively by workers who experienced its benefits both in their personal lives and at work. A multi-stage study surveyed individuals working in the same companies before, during, and after GDPR implementation. Participants acknowledged the regulations‘ benefits, including data practice changes and increased privacy protection for employees. They also appreciated the trade-offs involved and considered GDPR positive for their company and for privacy. This viewpoint contradicts the conventional negative narrative about regulation. Policymakers may want to capitalize on this public support while it lasts, and consider feedback from similar dual professional-consumer groups as GDPR evolves.
Rents are rising faster than wages across the country, especially in these cities:
The Federal Reserve (Fed) has held interest rates steady despite rising rent prices, which have surged nationwide by 30.4% between 2019 and 2023 while wages increased by only 20.2%. Wage growth has been outpaced by rent increases in large cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Phoenix, and Tampa, as well as smaller cities such as Baltimore, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, New York, and San Diego. The gap between wages and rent has led many Americans to spend a larger portion of their income on housing, often at the expense of other essential needs. Rising rents have contributed to inflation and homelessness across the country.
The article is about the ILGPU JIT Compiler, a tool for high-performance .Net GPU programs. It provides information on its license and mentions that it has 1.2k stars and 110 forks on GitHub. However, there is no specific content regarding what the ILGPU JIT Compiler does or how to use it, as the article appears to be a placeholder or incomplete.
Over a 1000 vulnerabilities that MITRE & NIST ‚might‘ have missed but China or Russia did not.:
This article discusses vulnerabilities that Exploit Observer’s Vulnerability & Exploit Data Aggregation System (VEDAS) couldn’t map to any CVE but only to CNVD/CNNVD/BDU. The author is part of A.R.P. Syndicate, a Global Cybersecurity Intelligence & Research Company that helps clients with vulnerability, target, and threat intelligence aggregation. VEDAS is the technology behind Exploit Observer, known for its superior vulnerability and exploit crawling capabilities. The article warns that while the system is experimental and likely to have false positives, it aims to eliminate false negatives over false positives. Independent researchers can verify their work through GitHub issues.
First proof that „plunging regions“ exist around black holes in space:
A recent study conducted by astrophysicists at Oxford University Physics has demonstrated Einstein’s theory that particles near a black hole plunge towards it, close to light speed. The study used X-ray data gathered from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescopes. Einstein’s theory states that in the vicinity of a black hole, it is impossible for particles to follow circular orbits safely; instead, they rapidly plunge towards the black hole at close to light speed. The study marks the first time this phenomenon has been demonstrated.
Bend:
Bend is a high-level programming language designed for massively parallel programming on GPUs. Unlike low-level alternatives, Bend provides a more expressive and feature-rich environment, yet still runs on parallel hardware. It supports fast object allocations, higher-order functions, unrestricted recursion, and continuations. Bend is powered by the HVM2 runtime, which ensures near-linear speedup based on the number of cores and requires zero explicit parallel annotations. The language is currently in development, and its single-core performance may improve in future releases.
Telekom & Co.: Warnung vor umfassenden Tracking über die Werbeplattform Utiq:
Leading European network operators have developed a mobile advertising technology called Utiq (formerly TrustPid). D64, which is closely affiliated with the SPD, raises serious concerns about massive data collection, profiling, and high risk of abuse. The Digital Association D64 criticizes Utiq for collecting and processing data from potentially hundreds of millions of customers from major telecommunications providers, enabling widespread Big-Brother-style surveillance that is largely unknown to users of such online services.
Utiq aims to replace US advertising networks like Google and Meta by offering EU-GDPR compliant alternatives for media and advertisers. The platform intends to track user trails, recognize their preferences through their smartphones, and automatically auction off targeted ads. Utiq uses IP addresses and mobile numbers to generate pseudonymous identifiers. D64 praises the contractually defined standardization of information in consent banners and the avoidance of dark patterns but criticizes that a second consent banner may be seen as invasive, reducing users‘ willingness to engage with data processing.
D64 warns about potential misuse of Utiq’s pseudonymized tracking services and profiles by combining them with other tracking technologies. This could potentially undermine the intended privacy protection measures and enable more intrusive surveillance. The association also points out that user data stored at Utiq and telecommunications companies can be accessed through legal or illegal means, posing risks to users‘ privacy. D64 concludes that Utiq contributes to the growing advertising industry, putting individual privacy at risk, and calls for alternative, context-based advertising solutions in the digital sphere.
Schließung von Krankenhäusern führt zunehmend zu weniger Datenschutz:
The Data Protection Conference expresses concern over large regulatory gaps when hospitals go bankrupt, as unauthorized individuals may gain access to sensitive patient data. During their 107th meeting in Bremerhaven, the conference called on leadership, providers, stakeholders, and policymakers to address the potential legal implications of future hospital closures related to data protection. In recent months, there has been a significant increase in the number of hospital insolvencies across Germany. The Data Protection Conference is particularly concerned with the sensitive treatment documentation held by patients, who are considered particularly vulnerable.
The controllers have reported an increasing number of cases where secure storage and access to patient data were not guaranteed, with some instances involving unauthorized individuals gaining access to patient records. Costs for securing documents may no longer be borne by the insolvency administrator at a certain point in time. If efforts to find legally responsible parties fail, there are currently no federal regulations specifying who is responsible for storing and deleting patient data, including how patients can gain access to their treatment records.
The Data Protection Conference calls on decision-makers to close existing regulatory gaps, ensure legal certainty, and consider funding solutions such as funds. The state hospital laws of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse could serve as models. Under these laws, hospitals are required to develop concepts for the further storage of patient data in case of insolvency or unplanned closure. Until then, relevant stakeholders should work together to develop compliant solutions. The Health Ministers Conference is urged to address this issue as soon as possible.
DNA confirms there IS a big cat roaming the British countryside:
DNA from a leopard has been identified from a swab taken from a dead sheep in the Lake District, marking the first time big cat DNA has been found on a carcass in the UK. This evidence supports the existence of non-native big cats in the country. Prof Robin Allaby at the University of Warwick, who conducted the analysis, has previously identified a claw as belonging to a Panthera genus cat. The findings follow the 2022 discovery of black animal hair on a barbed wire fence in Gloucestershire, also believed to belong to a big cat.
The article discusses the interaction between TCP (the transport protocol) and Starlink services. It highlights that Starlink represents a unique data link service with high jitter rates, packet drop rates unrelated to network congestion, and variable latency profiles. Older variants of TCP, such as Reno TCP, perform poorly when used over Starlink connections, while more recent variants like CUBIC perform better due to the use of Selective Acknowledgment (SACK). The article also suggests that tuning protocols like BBR or ECN could potentially improve performance for TCP sessions with Starlink components.
The article describes a situation where the author created a new hostname in DNS and added it to their webserver configuration. The server was online for only 3 seconds before receiving a 404 request for /.git/config. This experience highlights the importance of proper security measures, as relying on obscurity may not be enough to protect your services.
The „100 Exercises To Learn Rust“ course is designed to teach the core concepts of Rust programming language through interactive exercises. It is based on the learn-by-doing principle and has been developed for classroom settings, with each attendee progressing at their own pace. The course covers Rust’s syntax, type system, standard library, and memory management. Prior knowledge of Rust or systems programming is not required, but knowledge of another programming language is assumed. This course can also be followed independently by working on the exercises with a mentor for guidance when needed.
Hertz sold a bunch of Teslas and it turns out they’re all kinds of trouble for their new owners:
Hertz initially planned to make 20% of its rental fleet electric vehicles (EVs), starting with a large Tesla deal, but high maintenance costs and expensive repairs scared the company away. People bought these used EVs at great prices, only for many to face issues such as battery damage and high repair bills. Online forums and Reddit posts suggest that buying a Hertz-owned Tesla might not be the best idea, and some users recommend purchasing from Tesla directly. Hertz expects to sell off the remaining 20,000 Teslas by the end of the year.
Analog Messschieber / Schieblehre mit Feineinstellung - 0-180mm, 50,6:
The article discusses various products such as measuring rulers and depth gauges, with their specifications like price, customer groups, netto prices, brutto prices, and discounts. Some special offers are mentioned, but there is no information about the agreement of receiving newsletters or additional contact details provided in the text.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes has turned me into a puzzle sicko:
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a mystery game developed by Simogo that offers an abundance of puzzles for players to solve. The game takes place in a seemingly abandoned hotel with various doors locked behind clues, which need to be solved through a variety of challenges such as Roman numerals, the Greek alphabet, and obscure movies. As players unlock more areas within the building, they also discover fresh narrative information tied to the storyline. The game launches on Nintendo Switch and Steam on May 16th.
This article provides an introduction to D3.js, a JavaScript library used for creating custom interactive charts and maps on the web. It covers various aspects of D3, including data-driven modification of HTML and SVG elements, scale functions, loading and transforming data, advanced interaction support, and more. The article also demonstrates how to select, insert, remove, and modify HTML and SVG elements using D3 selections, as well as how to apply functions to selections and how to filter and sort selections.
Deactivating Facebook for just a few weeks reduces belief in fake news:
A study involving over 35,000 Facebook and Instagram users found that disconnecting from the platforms had little or no effect on political opinions and knowledge. However, those who deactivated their accounts were less likely to believe misinformation circulating online during the U.S. election. The experiment was part of a larger research project exploring how social media affects democracies, with the study finding that Facebook remained the platform with the most significant impact on political outcomes.
The largest pyramid field in Egypt is located along a narrow desert strip, yet no explanation has been provided for why these pyramids are concentrated in this specific location. This study utilizes radar satellite imagery, geophysical data, and deep soil coring to investigate the subsurface structure and sedimentology of the Nile Valley next to these pyramids. The identification of segments of a major extinct Nile branch, which has been named „The Ahramat Branch“ running at the foothills of the Western Desert Plateau where most of the pyramids lie, suggests that this branch played a role in the monuments‘ construction and was simultaneously active as a transportation waterway for workmen and building materials to the pyramids‘ sites during the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
The Ahramat Branch is believed to have functioned as a significant waterway during the Pharaonic era, providing easy access to the pyramids for construction activities. The causeways of many of these pyramids lead directly to the riverbank of this branch, indicating that it was an essential transportation route for materials and workers. Additionally, several surviving valley temples, which acted as river harbors in antiquity, were found adjacent to the banks of the Ahramat Branch, further supporting its role during the construction phase of these pyramids.
The study also explores the alignment of old and middle kingdom pyramids to the Ahramat Branch and suggests that this branch was active during different periods based on the proximity of the pyramids to the floodplain. The analysis indicates that the water level of the Ahramat Branch varied throughout these periods, with higher levels during Dynasty 4 and lower levels during Dynasty 5.
The study concludes that the eastward migration and abandonment of the Ahramat Branch could be attributed to various factors such as tectonic activity causing a tilt in the Nile floodplain, wind-blown sand incursion due to its proximity to the Western Desert Plateau, and reduced river discharge caused by decreased rainfall and increased aridity. The integration of radar satellite data with geophysical surveying and soil coring provided insights into this long-lost Nile branch, which can inform conservation measures and raise awareness of these sites for modern development planning in Egypt.
This article does not provide sufficient information to summarize. It appears to be a repository with a long list of advanced JavaScript questions and their explanations, licensed under MIT license.
Microsoft is reportedly testing to add more ads in Windows 11 by suggesting PC Manager users „repair“ their systems by reverting to Bing as the default search engine. PC Manager, a utility available in some regions, enables users to manage system storage and file management and optimize PC performance. This comes after advertisements were introduced in parts of the interface like File Explorer, Settings app, and Start menu on Windows 11. While these ads have been met with criticism by users, PC Manager as a standalone product is considered secure and effective for improving system performance.
earths-rotation-limits-ibis-performance-to-6-3-stops:
The article discusses how the rotation of the Earth limits the performance of in-body image stabilization (IBIS) systems in cameras, specifically to around 6.3 stops. This limitation arises because the gyroscopic sensors used in the stabilization systems are not able to measure and compensate for Earth’s rotation, which results in a maximum allowable shutter speed that is influenced by the Earth’s rotation. Olympus and Panasonic have claimed to have increased stabilization performance, but the exact methods remain unclear.
The author discusses a tweet by Jason Lemkin where he passed on a startup because their deck was outdated, which is seen as a negative signal in the world of venture capital (VC). The author explains why Lemkin did nothing wrong and how most founders have incorrect expectations when it comes to relationships with VCs. Founders often believe that VCs are their friends, but they should understand that VCs are money allocators whose primary focus is on delivering returns for their investors. The author emphasizes the importance of not falling for the „fleece vest“ image that VCs may present and instead recognizing them as professional investors who make decisions based on signals like an outdated deck. Finally, the author suggests adjusting expectations with VCs and viewing them more as sales prospects to ensure a successful fundraising process.
How to build a startup pitch deck:
A comprehensive guide on how to create a startup pitch deck was provided, with detailed instructions and examples for each section. The guide emphasized the importance of understanding your market, highlighting your unique solution, showcasing traction, and effectively presenting your team and business model. It also stressed the need for design consistency and clarity in communication. Testing against investors‘ expectations, using versioning, and iterating based on feedback were highlighted as key steps to refine the pitch deck during the fundraising process. Lastly, while hiring a designer can enhance the quality of the deck, it was emphasized that building a great startup should come first.
streamlining-self-hosting-managing-100k-docker-44000-kubernetes-deploys-ease:
The article discusses the challenges and solutions for making Plane, a self-hosting software, user-friendly for Docker and Kubernetes deployments. It highlights the need to simplify deployment methods, automate processes, and provide better user experience for Plane users. The article also outlines upcoming features and improvements for self-hosted Plane, such as image handling, automated back-ups, and support for additional infrastructure services.
How Python Asyncio Works: Recreating it from Scratch:
This article explains how Python generators work and provides a simplified version of asyncio using only Python generators. The author demonstrates how to create an event loop, handle I/O-bound programs, and use the async and await keywords with the help of the [await]{.underline} dunder method. By building a simple version of asyncio using just Python generators, readers can gain a better understanding of how it performs its magic in handling I/O-bound programs.
How to Test a GitHub Action with GitHub Actions:
The article explains how to test a GitHub Action using a GitHub Actions workflow. It provides a step-by-step guide on setting up the workflow, running unit tests, building the Docker container, conducting integration tests, and validating the results. The article also includes examples of real-world actions such as generate-sitemap, jacoco-badge-generator, and javadoc-cleanup, as well as information on how to find the author’s GitHub profile and website.
This article introduces Tarsier, a vision utility developed by Reworkd for web interaction agents. Tarsier visually tags interactable elements on a webpage, such as buttons and links, enabling an LLM to take actions on those elements. It also provides an OCR algorithm for converting webpage screenshots into a structured string that an LLM can understand. The Tarsier package is available for installation on GitHub, and the article includes a step-by-step example of its use. The vision utility is currently compatible with Google Cloud Vision, Amazon Textract, and Microsoft Azure Computer Vision. The authors plan to add more options to customize Tarsier’s functionality in the future.
This article discusses the Pi-C.A.R.D, an AI-powered voice assistant developed for Raspberry Pi, capable of doing anything a standard LLM can do in a conversational setting. It can recognize audio, describe images, and connect to external APIs for added functionality. The article also mentions its offline, local-only nature for privacy reasons and provides a guide on how to set up and use the system. The project aims to continuously improve and expand its capabilities.
My biggest leadership failure (so far):
This article recounts the author’s experience as a software engineer in 2018, feeling overwhelmed and hiding in a boat at work due to pressure from their latest project. The author explains that they were „playing the role of ‚Staff engineer‘“ without knowing it, having been trained as a boxer but now needing to adapt to a wizarding league. They realized they needed clear leadership sponsorship and greater flexibility in communication and technical design to succeed in their new role. The author plans to use this newsletter to reflect on their experiences, readings, and mistakes to become a better staff engineer.
iPhone owners say the latest iOS update is resurfacing deleted nudes:
An apparent bug in Apple’s iOS 17.5 update has caused some iPhone owners to have their previously deleted photos reappear on their devices, according to a Reddit thread and MacRumors. People are reporting that old photos are showing up in their Recents album after updating, even though they were supposedly permanently removed after 30 days. Apple has not yet commented on the issue, which could involve deleted data being stored on-device or have implications for other types of media like voicemails.
How to get 7th graders to smoke:
The article discusses a study from 1989 by Hansen et al., which found that a drug prevention program called Project SMART actually caused seventh-graders to smoke, drink alcohol, and use drugs more than those who did not participate in the program. The Emotion program, which focused on managing bad feelings, had stronger effects in the wrong direction, as students engaged in these activities more after going through the program. The Social program, which involved resisting negative influences and fostering good friendships, showed no significant changes in behavior. This example illustrates that well-intentioned interventions can sometimes fail or even backfire when it comes to changing people’s behaviors.
How I accidentally took down GitHub Actions:
This article discusses a bug found in GitHub Actions‘ beta version last December, which was related to commit shorthashes and their potential for causing DoS attacks. The author accidentally caused a global outage after creating a fork and pushing a commit with the same shorthash as another commit. The issue was later fixed by updating the config wizard to generate full 40-character commit hashes in config files.
The article discusses how the difficulty of interview questions has increased, with companies now giving Leetcode hards and requiring candidates to solve them in less than 30 minutes. To tackle these challenging questions, people are using tools like Ultracode, Final Round AI, and Cheetah. This creates a competition between those who use such tools and „studying peasants.“ The article recommends conducting interviews in person as an effective solution to spotting cheating and ensuring candidates are capable of performing all functions required for the role.
New WiFi Vulnerability: The SSID Confusion Attack:
A new vulnerability has been discovered in the IEEE 802.11 WiFi standard, affecting every WiFi client on every device and operating system due to a design flaw. The SSID Confusion attack exploits the lack of authentication for the network name (SSID) in beacon frames, tricking a victim into connecting to a different WiFi network than intended. This issue is present across various types of WiFi networks, including home, enterprise, and mesh networks. To defend against this vulnerability, updates to the WiFi standard, client improvements, and proper VPN use are recommended.
„Is This Project Still Maintained?“:
The article discusses the challenges of maintaining open source projects on platforms like GitHub and the expectations users have when it comes to support, bug fixes, and feature requests. It also touches upon the „maintained“ vs „unmaintained“ status of many projects and how users may be disappointed if they expect regular updates and assistance from maintainers. The author considers creating an issue in all their repos titled „Is This Project Still Maintained?“ and sharing a manifesto that clarifies the reality of open source project maintenance, hoping to prevent misunderstandings and avoid future disappointment for users.
Firefox search update | Hacker News:
The article discusses Mozilla’s decision to collect and categorize user search data in order to improve their products and services. The data collected will be used to enhance features such as Firefox Suggest, which provides recommended content based on user queries. While the data collection is aimed at improving the user experience, some users may have concerns about privacy. Mozilla reassures that they prioritize user privacy and all data collected will be anonymized and aggregated. Users can opt out of sending any technical or usage data to Firefox by adjusting their settings in the Privacy & Security panel.
Functions — PySpark master documentation:
This article discusses two main functions in pandas: pandas_udf and unwrap_udt. The pandas_udf function creates a user-defined function (UDF) for Pandas, while the unwrap_udt function unravels a column with User Defined Type (UDT) data into its underlying type.
New Earliest Emoji Sets From 1988 & 1990 Uncovered:
In 2019, Emojipedia revealed that Docomo’s i-mode emojis were not the first to exist; further digital excavations in 2024 led to the recreation of emoji designs predating Softbank’s 1997 emoji set and the ❤-enabled Pocket Bell pagers of 1995. Games developer Matt Sephton discovered a set of emoji-like symbols within a Sharp Zaurus PI-4000, which was released in Japan in June 1994 as a model of personal digital assistant (PDA). The found emojis predated the Softbank SkyWalker DP-211SW mobile phone by just over a year. This discovery suggests that Sharp’s PA-8500 PDA device from October 1988 is currently the earliest known example of an emoji set, which resembles modern emoji keyboards.
This guide provides information on taking photos in Germany, including privacy concerns and the need for permission. Taking pictures of people is generally not allowed if it violates their privacy, shows helplessness, or involves celebrities. Exceptions include family photos, film photography, unidentifiable subjects, public events, and landscape/location-focused photos. Sharing photos of people requires permission, with some exceptions based on the subject’s recognition, profession, death, or public gathering participation. Panorama rights allow for taking photos of buildings and vehicles in public spaces without permission. In private spaces, permission from the owner is required. Penalties may include fines and imprisonment if privacy laws are violated.
Cognitive psychology findings that are solid and can be helpful for educators include: active learning beats passive learning; actively solving problems produces more learning; spacing effect: more long-term retention occurs when you space out your practice; the testing effect, also known as the retrieval practice effect, which is the best way to review material is to test yourself on it; the most effective type of active learning is deliberate practice.
How Good, Kind, Caring People Became The Bad Guys:
The article discusses how humans tend to transfer negative traits to those trying to warn them about threats or problems, which is known as spontaneous trait transference. It cites several studies that found people often attribute negative events in their lives to others and fail to distinguish between a threat and someone warning them. This behavior can make it difficult for individuals to receive warnings or criticism without feeling attacked, leading to denial and cognitive dissonance. The article emphasizes the importance of being respectful, compassionate, and honest when communicating threats or issues in order to change public thought and behavior.
Faced with RTO mandates, some top tech talent left instead - The Wash…:
A case study by researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan found that return-to-office mandates at tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX led to a spike in departures among senior employees. The researchers used resume data from People Data Labs to analyze the impact of forced returns to offices on employee tenure and movement between companies. They discovered a strong correlation between senior-level employees leaving after a mandate was implemented, suggesting that these policies negatively affected workforce tenure and seniority. High-ranking employees stayed several months less than they might have without the mandate, with many going to work for direct competitors.
Ordered back to the office, top tech talent left instead, study finds:
The article discusses how top talent in the tech industry has been leaving companies that enforce strict return-to-office (RTO) policies, seeking new opportunities with more flexible remote work arrangements. The author shares their own experience of finding a higher paying job with better remote working conditions after raising concerns about unclear RTO policies at their previous company. They suggest that the market is rewarding employees who value their wellbeing and seek positive working environments, resulting in increased salaries and more attractive benefits for top tech talent.
The rage epidemic: is our modern world fuelling aggression?:
A video of a 60-year-old man, Peter Abbott, screaming abuse at TV producer Samantha Isaacs went viral after his guilty verdict at Poole magistrates court for using threatening behavior to cause alarm and distress. Psychotherapist Aaron Balick believes that new technologies have increased the number of ways to express anger and reduced shame associated with it. Anger has been on the rise since 2016, with more reported cases of customer abuse in the UK and road rage incidents increasing by 40% from 2021-2022. The article also discusses how driving can contribute to aggression due to factors such as vulnerability, territoriality, and decision-making. Anger management techniques are recommended for those struggling with anger issues.
Outdoor time is good for your kids‘ eyesight. Here’s why:
Spending at least two hours outside each day is crucial for children to protect their eyesight and prevent myopia (nearsightedness), which has been rapidly increasing in the US and other parts of the world. Pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Noha Ekdawi suggests that outdoor time is the best form of prevention for nearsightedness. Studies have shown that spending more time outdoors can help slow down the development of myopia by stimulating the release of dopamine, which prevents the eyeball from stretching too much. In Taiwan, after implementing a program encouraging primary schools to send students outdoors for at least two hours a day, every day, the rate of myopia among elementary school students began falling.
hidden-mother-photos-history-photography:
The article discusses the historical phenomenon of „hidden mother“ photographs from the 19th century, where young children were held by partially obscured adults in the background. These photographs were often considered oddities or the result of poor photography skills. The author argues that these images are actually an example of the sentimental image-making tradition surrounding mother and child, and a reflection of the desire to protect and cherish childhood. The article also highlights the evolution of photographic processes over time and compares different photographic techniques. Ultimately, the author suggests renaming these photos as „cherished child photographs“ to better focus on the relationships between the mother and the child.
These 10 cities have the biggest gaps between rents and wages:
This article discusses the rising cost of living in the United States, focusing on rent increases and wage growth between 2022 and 2023. StreetEasy, a real estate listings company, used its data along with Bureau of Labor Statistics data to analyze these changes across metropolitan areas. The results showed that rents increased more rapidly than wages in many cities, leading to an imbalance between the two. Tampa, Florida had the highest percentage difference at 2.4%, while New York City saw a significant rent increase of 8.6%.
Hubble Network has successfully made a Bluetooth connection between Earth and space, using two satellites launched on March 4, 2024. These satellites can receive signals from a standard 3.5mm Bluetooth chip over a distance of 600 km (approximately 373 miles). This development could have significant implications for global connectivity, as it allows any Bluetooth-enabled device to connect to Hubble’s satellite network without cellular reception and reduces battery consumption by up to 20 times and operating costs by a factor of 50. The company plans to add more satellites in the coming years to expand its coverage.
The article discusses the development of a DSL (embedded in CUDA) called ThunderKittens, which simplifies the process of writing kernels that can efficiently utilize GPU compute resources. The aim is to make it easier for developers to write AI algorithms that can run efficiently on GPUs. ThunderKittens uses 2D and 1D tensors in shared memory and registers as well as operations like initializers, unary ops, binary ops, and row/column ops. The article also highlights the importance of understanding what hardware wants and designing AI algorithms to match that.
Protecting your email address via SVG instead of JS:
This article discusses an SVG-based approach for email protection on webpages that does not require JavaScript. The main advantages include working with JavaScript turned off, allowing standard mailto: links, and concealing the content like an image while being copyable like text. The technique involves embedding an external SVG document within a hypertext HTML document to hide email addresses from spambots while maintaining accessibility for human visitors.
01-ai/Yi-1.5-34B-Chat · Hugging Face:
This article discusses an upgraded version of Yi, known as Yi-1.5. It is pre-trained on a high-quality corpus of 500B tokens and fine-tuned on diverse samples. Compared to the original Yi model, Yi-1.5 offers better performance in coding, math, reasoning, and instruction-following capabilities while maintaining excellent language understanding, commonsense reasoning, and reading comprehension abilities. Two chat models, Yi-1.5-34B-Chat and Yi-1.5-9B-Chat, have been introduced as well-performing open-source alternatives for their respective sizes.