Geekly Update - 23 March 2022
Is making Daylight Savings Time permanent a good idea? Are SSDs really more reliable than spinning magnetic disks? Will artificial intelligence be the cause of World War III? And what could posssibly go wrong if someone drilled a hole to the center of the Earth? Get answers in today's Geekly Update... it's jam-packed with the latest tech news. This issue is guaranteed to make you 146% smarter -- you'll see why. Read, think, and, comment! |
The AskBobRankin Geekly Update
Researchers at Collaborations Pharmaceuticals use AI to search for potential new drugs. They put their software into "bad actor mode" and in less than six hours it invented 40,000 potentially lethal chemical weapons. Great, just in time for World War III.
Gasoline prices are at a 14-year high, and climbing. Enter your zipcode and Gasbuddy will tell you what local gas stations are charging to fill up your tank.
The US Senate passed a bill that would make Daylight Savings Time permanent, with a goal to eliminate the annoying twice-annual clock changing by Fall of 2023. The Atlantic explores the pros and cons of the proposed change.
Deepfake technology, which uses artificial intelligence to create videos with a person’s voice and likeness, is being used to sow confusion in the midst of the war in Ukraine. Fake videos have surfaced on Facebook and YouTube showing Putin declaring peace, and Ukraine’s president Zelensky surrendering to Russia.
An MIT spinoff company called Quaise is working on a way to drill close to the center of the Earth, to access “limitless” geothermal energy stored there. Quaise plans to use conventional drilling combined with gyrotrons that shoot millimeter-wave light beams that can vaporize rock.
MIT engineers have built a plane that has no propellers, turbines, or any other moving parts. The lightweight aircraft uses lithium batteries to create an “ionic wind” that generates the force required to power the plane. Next step, steering?
Say it ain’t so, Andy! Cloud storage firm Backblaze publishes statistics on hard drive reliability and failure rates. Their latest report indicates that SSDs are not necessarily more reliable than traditional hard disk drives.
Scientists using electrocorticogram technology to capture brain waves can “see” what a person is picturing in their mind’s eye. Sort of.
The hacking group Lapsus$ which has previously claimed to have hacked Nvidia and Samsung, says they also hacked into Microsoft and stole source code for some of its software products. Microsoft says "a single account had been compromised, granting limited access," but Lapsus$ published portions of the stolen code for Bing, Cortana, and Bing Maps.
And finally, this week's Just Here For The Headline: "Tiny Star Unleashes Gargantuan Beam of Matter and Anti-Matter That Stretches for 40 Trillion Miles". Somebody should tell Gene Roddenberry.
Your thoughts on these topics are welcome. Post your comment or question below...
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This article was posted by Bob Rankin on 23 Mar 2022
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Most recent comments on "Geekly Update - 23 March 2022"
Posted by:
MartinW
23 Mar 2022
And here I thought I was the only one who opposed year-round DST. I like dark evenings and hate getting up in the dark and trying to go to sleep while it's light and people are outside making noise. I'd rather have no DST, but could live with the present system.
Posted by:
WHITNEY kEEN
23 Mar 2022
i THINK IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL TO HAVE PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS. I USED TO HATE IT BEING DARK IN WINTER ESPECIALLY NOW THAT i CANNO DRIVE AT NIGHT. hOWEVER, IN THE NORTHERN STATES (MAINE, nh , vt, mn ETC. THE DAYS WOULD BE SO SHORT IN MIDWINTER AND THE SUN RISE SO EARLY IN MIDSUMMER THAT THEY MIGHT PREFER TO STAY ON THE SWITCHING BACK AND FORTH.PpERHAPS, A LOCAL OPTION.
Posted by:
Bob J
23 Mar 2022
Rather than year round DST, I think it might be better to have people change their "normal' work hours from 9 to 5 to 8 to 4. They would get the same effect without messing up clocks, etc.
Unfortunately, that seems to be beyond the capabilities of most people. Sigh!
Posted by:
MikieB
23 Mar 2022
Here's a solution to making DST permanent. Change the clocks just ½ hour and then NEVER change them again. Now we will entertain a lot of grousing on why this won't work. It's kind of like a settlement between DST and "Standard" time.
Posted by:
bb
23 Mar 2022
And of course somebody has to say there is no such thing as Daylight Savings Time.
It's Daylight Saving Time.
{pedantic mode off}
Posted by:
Paul Rosenberger
23 Mar 2022
If DST remained during Oct. - April, school kids would wait for buses in the dark - a dangerous time.
Posted by:
Jim
23 Mar 2022
The geothermal energy idea of burning or melting the rock to make a deep enough hole could be a real game changer for clean energy. IF it actually works.
Posted by:
Russ Baldwin
23 Mar 2022
I’m on the compromise side. Adjust things 1/2 hr. Some daylight both ways and leave it there. I despise the changing of the clocks nonsense. Even in AZ, maybe WE don’t change, but we have to keep track of everybody else that does…
Posted by:
Brian B
23 Mar 2022
@bb.
It's not even that. It's daylight shifting time. Nothing is saved, it's just moved.
Posted by:
Glen
23 Mar 2022
I have lived in AZ since 2002 where we enjoy STANDARD time all year long and that is GREAT! Let's leave our clocks everywhere on STANDARD time and worry about more critical issues!!
Posted by:
Mike Bonk
24 Mar 2022
People are panicking over kids going to school in the dark and an endless array of other problems. How hard is it for each school/business to decide what hours work for them?
Posted by:
DBA Steve
24 Mar 2022
Digging, or burning, down deep enough just might give us "limitless" geothermal energy in the form of a new volcano.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Unintended Consequences... :-)
Posted by:
Bill
24 Mar 2022
Changing the clocks was started by the retail industry to give shoppers more time to shop. Once agian it's all about money!!!
Posted by:
Frances
24 Mar 2022
I like DST and don't mind changing the clocks even though I always forget to change the thermostat and still have an electro-mechanical clock who's hands are hard to move without using pliers (it's on the stove which is a 1950's model - yes it is!).
We are always going to be in the dark in winter at one end of the day or the other, no matter what. But I like the evening daylight in the summer with DST.
We once spent vacation time in the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec which is far enough east that it should be on Atlantic time but is kept on Eastern time with the rest of Quebec. The sun set by 7:30 and we didn't like it at all. So DST it is!
Posted by:
Joe Pitner
25 Mar 2022
If Standard Time was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me.
Posted by:
guy
25 Mar 2022
Bill, I think you have that wrong, it was started to give farmers more time in the field in the evening. I don't believe it had anything to do with retail at all, they still had plenty of time and they didn't get any more hours to shop.
Posted by:
samG
27 Mar 2022
Gasbuddy, not gasbuddy. have their gas card for months. Have not been able to use it anywhere. Tried to correct the price of regular gas one day- $.50 different and the app or website would not let me do it. So I'm done with them. If their prices are wrong, what's the reason to use them?