Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Tab clearing

Here's a grab bag of items that are only related by the fact that they're in this grab bag.

B alerts us to the fact that a huge amount of what is reported as "Science" is in fact a scam.  The Iron Law of Bureaucracy applies to Department Heads and University Presidents as much (or maybe more) as any bureaucrat.  I would go so far as to say that today's scientific bureaucracy essentially ensures that there will be a crisis of reproduceability.

I don't almost ever go on Facebook, because they're simply evil - they sell your data to anyone who will pony up.  So what, you say?  Here's what:
A lot of people probably don’t care if Netflix or Microsoft have access to their “private” messages. But technology companies aren’t the only kids on the block with big bucks. Do you really want your health insurance company having access to your “private” messages? That medical issue that grandma messaged you about may be hereditary and the fact that you might face it at some point may convince your health insurance company to up your premium. Would Facebook provide access to your “private” messages to health insurance companies? You have no way of knowing.
Related: this cannot be said often enough:


Reality is starting to catch up to (and overwhelm) the hype about self-driving cars.  It's about time, but this quote from the article is pretty pathetic:
"I've been seeing an increasing recognition from everybody—OEMs down to various startups—that this is all a lot tougher than anybody anticipated two or three years ago," industry analyst Sam Abuelsamid told Ars. "The farther along they get in the process, the more they learn how much they don't understand."
We have Top Men working on it.  Top.  Men.  They obviously don't read this blog because I've been talking about this for years.

Once again I must point out that the cyber security job market is red hot and you don't need a college degree to get in to it.  You can study on your own and take certification tests for small money (a few grand, max) and find yourself making big bucks without a huge amount of college debt - and without all the Snowflake indoctrination that goes with it.  Some companies even offer scholarships.  If you are (or know) a young man who's smart and has some get up and go, this might be their ticket.

Philip emails in response to my post about Sidecarcross racing (Motocross with sidecars):
If you think dirt bike side car racing is as mad as a box of frogs, try looking at some Isle of Man TT side car road racing. 150 MPH at times on a flat platform with no hand holds and not strapped in is a bit too hirsute for me to do, methinks!
I'm with him 100%.  In my 20s I might have thought that Sidecarcross was cool enough to try out (heck I did dirt biking, so it's just a short step from that).  But even the 22 year old me would never have tried this - which as he says is indeed madder than a box of frogs:

1 comment:

Jonathan H said...

As far as Facebook messages - banks have so far balked at doing more there since FB won't promise not to look at your banking details or scan your messages. Some doctors will also move conversations off there at a certain point. I avoid discussing sensitive things there as well. Like any 'free' app or site - YOU are the product and your data is the price of use.

As far as self driving cars? OF COURSE it is a difficult problem to solve! Why do you think the military has spent years and years and lots of money on it? Oh, and by the way - Carnegie Mellon University had a self driving car in 1991. For more than 10 years they have had one with no obvious sensors in use on public roads.
Just because internet problems are easy doesn't mean that real world problems are!