Cop Car's Beat

More from News for Nerds - High-res photo of a crystal

Image shows an electron ptychographic reconstruction of a praseodymium orthoscandate (PrScO₃) crystal, zoomed in 100 million times. Credit: Cornell University

From News for Nerds:

See the Highest-Resolution Atomic Image Ever Captured (scientificamerican.com)38

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @09:00AM from the record-breaking dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: Behold the highest-resolution image of atoms ever seen. Cornell University researchers captured a sample from a crystal in three dimensions and magnified it 100 million times, doubling the resolution that earned the same scientists a Guinness World Record in 2018. Their work could help develop materials for designing more powerful and efficient phones, computers and other electronics, as well as longer-lasting batteries. The researchers obtained the image using a technique called electron ptychography. It involves shooting a beam of electrons, about a billion of them per second, at a target material. The beam moves infinitesimally as the electrons are fired, so they hit the sample from slightly different angles each time -- sometimes they pass through cleanly, and other times they hit atoms and bounce around inside the sample on their way out. Cornell physicist David Muller, whose team conducted the recent study, likens the technique to playing dodgeball against opponents who are standing in the dark. The dodgeballs are electrons, and the targets are individual atoms. Though Muller cannot see the targets, he can see where the "dodgeballs" end up, thanks to advanced detectors. Based on the speckle pattern generated by billions of electrons, machine-learning algorithms can calculate where the atoms were in the sample and what their shapes might be.

Previously, electron ptychography had only been used to image extremely flat samples: those merely one to a few atoms thick. The new study, published in Science, now allows it to capture multiple layers tens to hundreds of atoms thick. That makes the technique much more relevant to materials scientists, who typically study the properties of samples with a thickness of about 30 to 50 nanometers. (That range is smaller than the length your fingernails grow in a minute but many times thicker than what electron ptychography could image in the past.) "They can actually look at stacks of atoms now, so it's amazing," says Andrew Maiden, an engineer at the University of Sheffield in England, who helped develop ptychography but was not involved with the new study. "The resolution is just staggering."

 

By visiting the Materials Project website, one may access an interactive presentation of the PrScO₃ crystal. As demonstrated in the screenshot, below, PrScO₃ is "Orthorhombic Perovskite structured and crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pnma space group. The structure is three-dimensional. Pr3+ is bonded in a 8-coordinate geometry to eight O2- atoms. There are a spread of Pr-O bond distances ranging from 2.37-2.89 Å. Sc3+ is bonded to six O2- atoms to form corner-sharing ScO6 octahedra."

Gee. I wish that website had been around when I studied crystallography in a solid state physics class (1958). It took me "forever" to figure out the primitive cell of the crystal assigned to me - iron alpha.

Another Vanity Card from Chuck Lorre - and further notes on Lorre

If one looks up "Chuck Lorre" on Wikipedia (please see Creative Commons), one finds a photo of "Chuck Lorre", below.

Lorre at PaleyFest 2013

The entry starts, as follows:

Charles Michael "Chuck" Lorre (/ˈlɔːri/;^[1] born October 18, 1952)^[2][3] is an American television director, writer, producer, composer, and actor.

Called the "King of Sitcoms" during the 2010s,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} he has created and produced sitcoms including Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, Mom, Young Sheldon, The Kominsky Method, Disjointed, Bob Hearts Abishola, B Positive, and United States of Al. He also served as an executive producer of Roseanne. He won Golden Globe Awards for Roseanne (1993) and Cybill (1996),^[9] and won the 2019 Golden Globe Award for The Kominsky Method.

Other than Young Sheldon, The Kominsky Method, and Disjointed, I have seen and enjoyed (some to a greater, some to a lesser extent) Lorre's sitcoms. I still watch re-runs of The Big Bang Theory though I can recite the dialogue - without having the TV audio engaged - in most of the episodes. (I admit to deliberately avoiding several episodes that I find annoying - usually because of writing that presents characters Sheldon and Wolowitz in truly obnoxious ways. They are obnoxious enough without the extra effort that someone seems to think is required.) In addition, because of conflicts with my schedule or the TV schedule I missed most first-run presentations of Mom, I am now catching up on those presentations, in re-runs.

My complaints about Lorre's writing is his reliance upon cheap sexual innuendos that are most unfunny and his insistence upon keeping characters infantile beyond their years. That said, for the most part, Lorre's writing is still above the standards set by others in sitcoms that see the air on our major networks. I am a fan. Or, perhaps I am merely jealous of anyone who has discernible eyebrows?

Summary of the week

Hunky Husband's busy calendar - 6/21/2021

It is well that HH is as organized as he is. It really helps him. Today he has a social engagement (to see old friends from 50 years ago, one of whom has come to town) and an appointment with his audiologist. That being the case, HH brought his penciled schedule for the day to me last evening to see if he had missed anything. He had noted the time at which he was to leave the house to meet his old friends at McDonald's, the time he was to leave McDonald's for home, etc. Right on! Unless HH starts getting more anxious about the whole thing, I plan to go to the gym this morning. I should return home before HH needs to leave, but I don't plan to go with him. McDonald's is less than one mile from our home.

How can we be so wasteful? - 6/22/2021

The item, below, is from News for Nerds.

Amazon Labels Millions of Unsold Products For Destruction, New Investigation Finds (theverge.com)73

Posted by msmash on Monday June 21, 2021 @01:39PM from the closer-look dept.

Amazon marks millions of unsold products for destruction each year in the UK, according to a new investigation by British television program ITV News. From a report: ITV found stacks of boxes marked "destroy" that were filled with electronics, jewelry, books, and other new or gently used items in one warehouse's "destruction zone." The news outlet caught the practice on camera while going undercover at the Dunfermline fulfillment center in Scotland. It says it tracked some of the goods to recycling centers and a landfill. About 124,000 items at Dunfermline were labeled "destroy" during a single week in April, according to an internal document obtained by ITV News. Just 28,000 items were set aside for donations during the same period. About half of all the stuff that's trashed are things that people returned, a former Amazon employee told ITV. While the other half are "unopened and still in their shrink wrap," the ex-employee said.

 

Sidenote to Bogie: I recall your telling me about wastefulness when you worked at Brookstone. I think it pales into insignificance when compared with the magnitude of Amazon's wastefulness.

 

Hunky Husband's busy calendar - 6/23/2021

 

 

For the first time since February, 2020, I got to see my friend who lives in a retirement village in northwestern Wichita. Hunky Husband took Elegant Friend and me to lunch at the Bricktown Brewery, a restaurant just a few blocks from EF's apartment. EF and I failed to recall how large portions of food are at that restaurant and each of the three of us took as much food home with us as we ate.

 

We lost our ISP (Cox) - 6/26/2021

 

 

As I was trying to solve a "no audio" problem with my computer software, this morning, I lost Internet connection - at about 7am. Since Cox has been laying some sort of cable in up along the main street that is about 1/3-mile to the west of us, I checked that our Wi-Fi was working and chose not to panic; but, I did check up on it every once-in-a-while. Hunky Husband and I just returned from the public library where, for the first time in 1.5 years I checked out a couple of books (both fiction, this time). In logging the books into my Excel spreadsheet, I note that I now have Internet connection - at about 2:45pm. Yay! HH is going down to his computer to check on his incoming emails.

 

I still have no audio. (Yes, the speakers are plugged in, powered up, and producing sounds.) The Troubleshooter software checked out my system and found nothing that it could fix - even after it reinstalled the audio drivers. I updated the System BIOS which, likewise, produced nothing. I don't much use the audio; but, it would be nice to have it back. 

 

Unlike previous times, HH has been choosing to go with me for most of the errands that I run - whether he drives or whether I drive. This is new behavior.

 

P.S. Weather - 6/26/2021

 

We received 1.6" of rain overnight. That cooled us down a bit, even if it raised the humidity. It was rather nice doing yardwork this morning - pulling millions of weeds and gathering branches downed by the wind.

Summary of the week

The ears have it - 6/14/2021

Hunky Husband had an appointment with the audiologist. The upshot of the appointment was that he chose to have Dr Combs set his hearing aids on "fully automatic". Trying to make adjustments was not working out for him. No more than HH currently wears the hearing aids, it isn't that big a deal. I must say, though, that I'm enjoying that HH is now (mostly) wearing his hearing aids when he watches TV in the evening. (Not so, during the day; but, one thing at a time!)

At times, HH's TV has been set to such a loud volume that, even though my den door is closed, I cannot hear my own TV over his. Note that, in the photo above, the charger sits on a note that I had written HH a couple of weeks ago to remind him to keep the lid open while charging his hearing aid batteries. Dr Combs recommended this as a means to check that everything is proceeding normally with the charging - by observing the blinking green light on each unit, during charging, or a steady green light when fully charged.

Note to Bogie: I showed your dad the hearing aid controls information in the format that you suggested (which reorganized the information and added the bit of info about the beeping that I had previously omitted) the other day. He didn't recognize the difference. He kept saying that it was the same information as on the previous table. It was mooted by his going to the "fully automatic" mode, anyway; but, I appreciated your input. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort.

Outlook and my teeth - 6/16/2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was not too pleased upon learning that, seemingly, a recent update to Outlook has changed how it operates a bit. Just how, I've not determined. The effect is that I missed my dental appointment on the 15th and had to re-schedule for the 16th.

My usual practice is to set up important appointments in the Outlook Calendar with first notification occurring 18 hours prior to the appointment so that I am reminded the evening before the appointment. The first notification that I received of the dental appointment on the 15th was when I came in (hot & grimy) from doing yard work and was notified that my appointment was past due. Picking up my phone to call the dental office, I noted that they had left me a voicemail about my not being there.

In setting up my appointment for the 16th, I was doubly positive to set first notification for 18 hours prior to the appointment. However, as had occurred on the previous entry, the default of 15 minutes was actually set on the appointment. Of course, with the kerfuffle, I did make it to the appointment on the 16th. I saw the dental hygienist (Lacey, who cleaned my pearly whites), the owner of the practice (Dr Carol Ysidro, who said she just wanted to see me because it had been at least a year since we last spoke), and Dr Omar (Dr Omar Barakeh who adjusted a few of my teeth to improve my bite). My teeth have been shifting a bit since Dr Omar installed the permanent bridge.

The lawn and my "miniature meadow" (mm) - 6/18/2021

Edward, of TenderCare Lawn and Landscape, came by this afternoon to check out our irrigation system. This is a mid-season service that the company offers. Having spent time weeding in the side yard, this morning, I decided to check out my mm that sits between our back lawn and the far back grounds, to see how the milkweed plants are doing. The above photo shows the mm's status.

The lacy-looking white flowers are Annual Daisy fleabanes, I think. I didn't plant them, but neither did I pull them when I saw them growing. The daisy-like yellow/brown flowers at mid-height are Brown-eyed Susans that I seeded a few years ago.

The multi-hued little flowers lurking in the shade of the towering Brown-eyed Susans and Wild asters are Blanket flowers that I planted from pots in 2019. At the left of the photo, one can see that the milkweed plants have grown little since I stopped babying them. Perhaps they are thirsty. The mm is just out of reach of the irrigation system unless the wind is from the north.

As an afterthought: The yellowish long leaves sticking up at the edge of the bare dirt, toward the right edge of the photo, is what's left of one of the Narcissi that surround the mm and a few of the trees that I've had planted in the edge of the woods. The Narcissi have shriveled, fallen, and been mowed down for the season.

Weather notes for the week

It has been hot, hot, hot - and it isn't even summer, yet. The NPR station was announcing that their studio thermometers (in Downtown Wichita) were showing 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest I saw, myself, was 103 on my car (but it changed to 100 when I turned down-sun) and 100 on our front porch. It is supposed to be hotter, today. It is 96 on our front porch. On my drive home from visits to the gym, this week, I've been swabbing down my carotid arterial areas, etc, with the wet wipes that I have been carrying in the car for COVID-19 precautions for the past 15 months. When one cannot perspire, it really helps cool one down.

Bogie, how's it doing up there in New Hampshire? You've been having really hot weather for an area that is supposedly "cool". You were hotter than were we, by about 20 degrees during May, I think.

More from News for Nerds - Neuro-Rights & Computer Stuff

Scientists Propose 'Neuro-Rights' to Protect Brains From Future Manipulation (reuters.com)40

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday June 13, 2021 @04:53PM from the rights-hemisphere dept.

Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from Reuters:Scientific advances from deep brain stimulation to wearable scanners are making manipulation of the human mind increasingly possible, creating a need for laws and protections to regulate use of the new tools, top neurologists said on Thursday.

A set of "neuro-rights" should be added to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations, said Rafael Yuste, a neuroscience professor at New York's Columbia University and organizer of the Morningside Group of scientists and ethicists proposing such standards. Five rights would guard the brain against abuse from new technologies — rights to identity, free will and mental privacy along with the right of equal access to brain augmentation advances and protection from algorithmic bias, the group says.

"If you can record and change neurons, you can in principle read and write the minds of people," Yuste said during an online panel at the Web Summit, a global tech conference.

"This is not science fiction. We are doing this in lab animals successfully."

 

 

Ransomware Attack Targeted Teamsters Union in 2019. But They Just Refused to Pay (nbcnews.com)10

Posted by EditorDavid on Monday June 14, 2021 @07:34AM from the no-sales dept.

NBC reports that America's "Teamsters" labor union was hit by a ransomware attack demanding $2.5 million back in 2019.

"But unlike many of the companies hit by high-profile ransomware attacks in recent months, the union declined to pay, despite the FBI's advice to do so, three sources familiar with the previously unreported cyberattack told NBC News."Personal information for the millions of active and retired members was never compromised, according to a Teamsters spokesperson, who also said that only one of the union's two email systems was frozen along with other data. Teamsters officials alerted the FBI and asked for help in identifying the source of the attack. They were told that many similar hacks were happening and that the FBI would not be able to assist in pursuing the culprit.

The FBI advised the Teamsters to "just pay it," the first source said. "They said 'this is happening all over D.C. ... and we're not doing anything about it,'" a second source said.

Union officials in Washington were divided over whether to pay the ransom — going so far as to bargain the number down to $1.1 million, according to the sources — but eventually sided with their insurance company, which urged them not to pony up... The Teamsters decided to rebuild their systems, and 99 percent of their data has been restored from archival material — some of it from hard copies — according to the union's spokesperson.

The FBI's communications office did not reply to repeated requests for comment. The FBI's stance is to discourage ransomware payments.
NBC News draws a lesson from the fact that it took nearly two years for this story to emerge. "An unknown number of companies and organizations have been extorted without ever saying a word about it publicly."

 

 

Why Quantum Computers Won't End Up Cracking Bitcoin Wallets (cnbc.com)39

Posted by EditorDavid on Monday June 14, 2021 @03:34AM from the hashing-things-out dept.

"Within a decade, quantum computers could be powerful enough to break the cryptographic security that protects cell phones, bank accounts, email addresses and — yes — bitcoin wallets," writes CNBC.

But fortunately, that would happen only if we do nothing in the meantime, they're told by Thorsten Groetker, former Utimaco CTO "and one of the top experts in the field of quantum computing."Crypto experts told CNBC they aren't all that worried about quantum hacking of bitcoin wallets for a couple of different reasons. Castle Island Ventures founding partner Nic Carter pointed out that quantum breaks would be gradual rather than sudden. "We would have plenty of forewarning if quantum computing was reaching the stage of maturity and sophistication at which it started to threaten our core cryptographic primitives," he said. "It wouldn't be something that happens overnight."

There is also the fact that the community knows that it is coming, and researchers are already in the process of building quantum-safe cryptography. "The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) has been working on a new standard for encryption for the future that's quantum-proof," said Fred Thiel, CEO of cryptocurrency mining specialist Marathon Digital Holdings. NIST is running that selection process now, picking the best candidates and standardizing them.

"It's a technical problem, and there's a technical solution for it," said Groetker. "There are new and secure algorithms for digital signatures. ... You will have years of time to migrate your funds from one account to another." Groetker said he expects the first standard quantum-safe crypto algorithm by 2024, which is still, as he put it, well before we'd see a quantum computer capable of breaking bitcoin's cryptography. Once a newly standardized post-quantum secure cryptography is built, Groetker said, the process of mass migration will begin. "Everyone who owns bitcoin or ethereum will transfer [their] funds from the digital identity that is secured with the old type of key, to a new wallet, or new account, that's secured with a new type of key, which is going to be secure," he said.
There will still be the problem of users who forget their password or died without sharing their key.

But in those scenarios, CNBC suggests, "an organization could lock down all accounts still using the old type of cryptography and give owners some way to access it."

Clever announcement

Last Christmas, a family friend announced her second pregnancy via her daughter's tee shirt. The second child is about due, but I just received the photo. The friend shall remain anonymous.

Refueling by drone

It's been 34 years since I was mustered out of the US Navy Reserve; but, Hunky Husband makes sure I keep somewhat in touch with what's happening with the Navy by asking frequent Navy-related questions - usually about ships or boats, expecting anyone with any affiliation to know all about them. Of course, I was a part of NAVAIR.

HH had a special interest in the article from which the following excerpts were taking. The drone involved is from Boeing - his home-away-from-home for 35 years.

Fueling the Future: MQ-25 first to conduct unmanned aerial tanking

07 June 2021

From NAVAIR Public Affairs

​​​​​​​NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - The MQ-25™ program successfully conducted the first ever aerial refueling operations between a manned receiver aircraft and unmanned tanker June 4 from MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois.

....

During the flight, the receiver Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet approached the Boeing-owned MQ-25 T1 test asset, conducted a formation evaluation, wake survey, drogue tracking and then plugged with the unmanned aircraft. T1 then successfully transferred fuel from its Aerial Refueling Store (ARS) to the F/A-18.

....

 

The US Navy posted a 30-second video on Twitter.

 

The photo, below, and a 2:05 minute video are posted on the Boeing Media Room webpage.

 

Hear, hear!

I experienced a surprise, today. Hunky Husband had told me that he had called his audiologist and that he was to see her this morning. What he failed to tell me was that he had gone ahead and told her which model of hearing aids he wished to buy. Dr Combs had a set ready for him when we walked in. She took about an hour to fit them to his ears; explain how to change settings on them, manually (eventually, HH may choose to let the units change settings to the environment, automatically); go over the warranty; and go over the battery recharging and unit maintenance procedures with us. Unlike the photo, above, Dr C had chosen units that are silver in color "To go with his hair." After seeing the units behind his ears, she thought that he might like to change for dark-colored units to match the ear pieces on his glasses. I doubt that he does that.

The red band on the earbud that is shown, above, indicates that the unit fits into one's right ear. The left ear's unit has a blue band. Most of us are accustomed to having red be on the port, as in red wine, (left) side; but, in the case of the hearing aids, red is for right.

To remind HH of how to manage the settings on his hearing aids, Dr C gave him a business-card-sized instruction card - which card neither of us found very satisfactory.

 

When we got home, I incorporated the instructions into a table that is much simpler for HH to follow. Even the early stage of dementia in which HH finds himself makes it difficult for him to follow slip-shod instructions. BTW: Dr C wears hearing aids, herself, which makes communications spotty, at times. It also makes her quite empathetic to her patients.

Dr C had set the audio gains a bit low, for now, to give HH a chance to get used to the audio. Next week, she will set the gains a bit higher. As I understood it, she will adjust the gain a couple of more times during the 60-day trial period. If, at the end of the 60-day trial period HH is displeased with anything, he may ask for different equipment or get a full refund - no harm, no foul. I must say it was pleasant, today, having HH watch TV without my having to wear earplugs to protect my own hearing. I'm hoping that HH can summon the patience to get through the trial period.

Below is HH's audiogram. As with the hearing aid units, red marks pertain to the right ear. HH was surprised to see how much hearing he had lost. (He blames time spent around jet engines in working/flying in B-52s in his much younger days.) At the highest frequencies, his hearing in either ear approaches profound deafness. (I could have told him that - of course - lol.)

Today's yard work & after-effects

Yard work & observations

This morning was cool and dry enough for me to be able to get some yard work done. I didn't stay out very long each time, but I went out several times. Mostly, I pulled weeds; but, my greatest achievement was completion of the task of removing the root system left when the yew bush outside one of my bedroom windows died this past spring. Our freshly-sharpened axe and my rarely-used razor tooth saw were my friends. The photo (below) shows that the hole has been filled with the dirt that I had dug and piled - as shown in Weekly summary - 5/22/2021. 

Some of my neighbors appreciate having a ready source of dill weed for their cooking (at which they are much better than am I!) Last fall I seeded, with far too many seeds gathered from last year's crop, a couple of beds, of which I show one (below).

While thinking of our neighbors, I am about ready to call them over to pick cherries. Just a few more days, I think.

In going out to the previous edge of our woods to pull creepers, I saw an array of gorgeous, ruby-red jewels among the grass (below). The closeup shows one ruby-red jewel. I don't know whether the seeds came from the strawberry bed that we had (now, HH's rose garden) or from green garbage that I've buried. At any rate, the taste of these left something to be desired.

Just an update: The new Oklahoma redbud tree, the planting of which is shown in Pretty Trees, is doing great, so far. Unfortunately, the new cherry tree still hasn't shown up. (I need to call the nursery.)

Visual Disturbance

Sitting at the luncheon table across from Hunky Husband, I noticed that I couldn't really see his right eye. Admittedly, it was not entirely light in the room - we've had a lot of practice getting food into our mouths, so vision isn't really required. However, I checked to see if it was one eye or the other that had an issue and found that it made no difference which eye (or both) I used. Absent my long history of migraines and migraine equivalents (variants), I would probably have been very concerned. As I have that history, I quickly cleared my plate from the table, did a quick check for possible stroke, told HH that I thought I was having a migraine, and retired to my darkened den. Indeed, my loss of vision progressed to nearly 100%; but, within 15 minutes, I was recovering visual field. Strange. I've not had a migraine of any sort for about 10 years and haven't experienced a retinal migraine equivalent for at least 30 or 40 years.

Migraine is a syndrome characterized by paroxysmal headache associated with other signs and symptoms, such as aura, but when a migraine manifests in a way other than head pain, it is termed a migraine variant (or migraine equivalent). These variants are not as common or as well understood as typical migraines and may be characterized by paroxysmal episodes of prolonged visual auras, atypical auras, confusion, dysarthria, focal neurologic deficits, gastrointestinal manifestations, and other constitutional symptoms, with or without a headache.

I'm surprised to have come up with a migraine equivalent at this late date; but, perhaps it was triggered by all of the bright sun that shone while I was working in the yard.