Looking at the beatiful show, I cannot avoid thinking: "each of them a potential weapon".
So in fair weather, when communication is smooth and all navigation systems are working, it's entirely feasible to coordinate a swarm of 10 000. Wow. :)
Soon enough, they will be coordinating each other in the presence of electronic warfare, and swarms of 100+ fly already, so 1000 is the next step. Anyone doing air defense is probably designing energy weapons (lasers, masers, etc) at a pace approaching madness, besides making ever-cheaper drones.
As for the environmental footprint - if each drone withstands 10 performances, they will probably save resources. :)
Bumbling US cops who raided a medical diagnostics center thinking it was a cannabis farm got a gun stuck to the powerful magnets of an MRI machine, a California lawsuit has alleged.After bursting into the diagnostics center in October last year, the SWAT team found only offices, a single employee an...
Originally found here. It seems that cops in California entered a still unexplored abyss of incompetence. Fortunately nobody was hurt, so it can be considered comic relief - except by the medical company whose MRI machine they cooked.
> Officer Kenneth Franco drew on his "twelve hours of narcotics training" and discovered the facility was using more electricity than nearby stores, the lawsuit said.
> "Officer Franco, therefore, concluded (the facility) was cultivating cannabis, disregarding the fact that it is a diagnostic facility utilizing an MRI machine, X-ray machine and other heavy medical equipment -- unlike the surrounding businesses selling flowers, chocolates and children's merchandise," the suit said.
> After bursting into the diagnostics center in October last year, the SWAT team found only offices, a single employee and medical devices, including a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, a diagnostic tool that uses high-powered magnets to create detailed scans of a patient's body.
> Disregarding a sign warning that metal objects should be kept well away, one officer wandered near the machine "dangling a rifle in his right hand," the lawsuit said.
> "Expectedly, the magnetic force of the MRI machine attracted the LAPD officer's loose rifle, securing it to the machine," the suit said.
> Instead of seeking expert advice on how to retrieve the weapon, one officer decided to activate the emergency shutdown button.
> "This action caused the MRI's magnet to rapidly lose superconductivity, leading to the evaporation of approximately 2,000 liters of helium gas and resulting in extensive damage to the MRI machine," the suit said.
> The officer then retrieved his gun, but left a magazine full of bullets on the floor of the MRI office, the suit says.
> The suit, which was filed in California last week, seeks unspecified damages and costs.
On individual scale, precisely that - a split type AC with one half indoors (or in a water tank) and the other half in an outdoor environement (air, water or ground).
If you're extracting heat from the environment, the machine lets the working fluid evaporate into the outdoor heat exchanger and compresses it back into the indoor heat exchanger. If you're cooling your premises - reverse that.
However, on a city scale, it's like "you've got a lot of sewage at 30 C" -> "your heat pump is a large building" -> "your sewage outflow is now at 10 C, but your underground heat reservoir gets charged to 140 C (stays liquid because of water column pressure), and you spend much less energy pumping the heat than you would spend heating the water directly".
I have had many encounters with cops, and I decide about the extent of cooperating with them on a case-by-case basis.
- landlord is illegally evicting my mother's neighbour --> I call cops and they prove how useless they are at prevention, but the matter goes to court and the landlord gets convicted later, and it was my only time to testify in court
- cops accuse me of ignoring their lawful order --> sorry, I was listening to music, didn't hear nothing, no comment, no comment, I admit nothing (nothing came of it)
- cops intrude into the squat yard without knowing it's a squat --> "the
droidsdrunken people you look for are elsewhere" --> the cops go elsewhere - cops raid the squat --> refuse to provide documents until threatened, require cops to provide their own ID, contest every statement and discuss the matter publicly in media
- cops try to steal equipment during a demonstration --> pull the equipment back and yell to them a description of what it is (I assume they thought I was planting a bomb instead of packing up)
- cops want to interview me about illegal demonstrations --> I politely tell them to fuck off, then call back and volunteer for the interview to convey the opinion of other anarchists :D
- a new squat is being established --> establish a security perimeter that is watched with attention and never let cops close
- an attempted squat gets burglarized and set on fire -> inform the fire brigade that a bottle of propane could be present (fortunately it was stolen), the fire brigade had better things to do than involve cops
- a new squat gets burglarized --> pepper spray the burglar and take their tools, without involving cops
- a new squat gets burglarized, episode N --> threaten the burglars and take their tools, without involving cops
- cops try to fall into a hole in ground during a stupid training excercise --> tell the cops not to go there, as they might fall in (leave untold: it would be a major embarrasment for squatters to rescue them)
- the squat is suddenly in the security perimeter of a NATO summit --> find some military lurking in the yard and invite them into the squat so they could be reasonably certain we don't have anything that shoots down planes :P (runway was about 250 m away)
- a drunken person tries to SWAT me at a street party --> fully explain the situation to the SWAT team and later participate in amateur theatre with cops to get the drunken person safely removed from the police station :o
- one drunken neighbour hits their spouse and when I forbid, hits me --> seeing that the neigbour has already paid for his deed since pepper was 100% effective and he'll feel extremely bad for many hours, I did not file a complaint to cops, although they were called and showed up
- after two geniuses tried to steal my car, but fled after a warning shot --> I did not involve cops
- after some person attacked his partner and hit her on street --> I pepper sprayed him, and since he took out a knife and attempted to come at me (I evaded, no harm occurred to me), I did call cops and make a complaint, as did the woman he had hit
- cops call me about one neigbour's car --> I don't remember anything (I did actually remember, but wasn't in a mood for helping them repress a neighbour)
- my car gets burglarized --> I ask the cops for info, they have none, I don't involve them beyond that
...etc.
P.S. I have once used DC to power a pump "directly". I use quotation marks because the pump (a water pump) was a brushless DC motor with an integrated controller. I used it on a field for removing water after a spring flood. Its controller accepted 24..48 V input, and it was powered from a 40 V solar panel brought on a wheelbarrow. :)
instead of powering the heat pump from the wall, the heat pump can be connected directly to a PV
I have no experience with this exact combination. I know that "batteryless" inverters exist, but most of them are on-grid inverters. In that scenario, all that matters is monitoring your production: if you don't want grid energy, you only run your system when your PV produces enough.
Another type of batteryless inverters are "pump inverters". Farmers seem to like them for pumping water from wells into water towers. A pump inverter can be configured to run at 50 Hz (or 60 Hz for North Americans) and 230..240 V (or 110 V for North Americans) alright, but it is not designed to power electronic devices, but dumb agricultural motors. There is considerable risk involved with powering a heat pump from a pump inverter, unless you find an exceptionally simple and dumb heat pump with very limited or resilient steering electronics.
Efficiency losses are small anyway, but mostly happen during battery storage or when voltage needs to rise or drop considerably (e.g. a transition of 700 -> 24 V or 24 -> 240 V would cause a small efficiency loss).
I’ve heard that a PV can directly power a compressor
This seems unlikely as the compressor would have to be a brushed DC motor. That kind of motors don't last long, they wear out their brushes. Long-lasting motors are brushless, and those generally cannot be run on DC power. For example, a "brushless DC" motor is essentially a three-phased AC motor, just its controller (full of smartness and MOSFET transistors) accepts DC input.
If you have a good technical overview of your heat pump system, maybe you can locate a point where regulated DC can be fed into the system, but that would be hacking. Alternatively, maybe a niche market already exists for DC-powered heat pumps, e.g. for caravans, trucks or ships? But on niche markets, prices typically aren't good for you. :(
Mulje: arutelu oli huvitav, kuid aega oli selleks liiga vähe. Kohal oli mitukümmend inimest, kellest osad kirjutavad ministeeriumile enne kooskõlastusringi tähtaja lõppu.
Kohal oli siseminister Läänemetsa nõunik, kes veidi ümarat juttu ajas, kuid ilmselt ka kõrvad lahti hoidis.
Eks vaatame, mida sealt tuleb. Kui tuleb mingi halva maiguga eelnõu, siis peab lipud ja loosungid kolikambrist välja otsima.
Relays: my use for truck relays is switching on heaters in my thermal storage water tank. Not big ones, though - I use relays rated for 24V and 40A of current. Since they are old, I have applied a safety margin and only let 25 A flow through them, so each of them handles 24 x 25 = 600 W.
As for using DC appliances: benefits do exist. If a household has a low voltage DC battery bank (some do, some don't) then dropping the battery voltage a few times to power car parts comes with a smaller efficiency loss. In my household, DC appliances are used for lighting, communications, computing, cooling food, pumping water and soldering electronics. The rest goes via AC. I think a car air conditioner could cool some small storage room decently. With big living rooms, it would have difficulty since it's a small device.
it would (as far as i understand with high school chemistry) be strictly more efficient to electrolyse rust directly
I'm not a chemist either, but I do know a bit of chemistry.
Typically, you need a solution of NaOH (sodium hydroxide) to directly reduce iron oxide in an electrolysis cell. If your iron oxide contains impurities, those may react with NaOH and ruin the fun. Also, if you have exposure to CO2, your NaOH will gradually degrade, producing NaHCO3 and losing potency.
My impression: wet electrolysis is great for making high purity iron, but it would be hard to make it work for energy storage.
Relays can be used for anything, and a car contains a fair number.
You can make a pulse jet engine from a muffler parts, but a solarpunk society would probably not do that. :)
Copper brake pipe and cooling radiators can be used as heat exchangers for other stuff.
Air conditioner parts can be reverse-used for Stirling engines or to pump heat in other contexts.
Wow, really interesting tools. :)
But sadly not for me - I left biology behind at some point and have fallen off the sleigh so badly that I'd probably need a year of study before I could use this tool for something less than practical (e.g. make a bacterium glow in the dark).
- septembril 19:00 Tallinnas korrakaitseseaduse kriitiline arutelu
Kolleegid anarhistid, meile võib olla tööd. Aastal 2008 tõstsime meie sildi "Ei politseiriigile", kui siseminister Jüri Pihl pärast Pronksiööd politsei õigustega üle põhiseaduse ratsutada tahtis. Põhiõiguste piiramise teema ei ole sellest ajast kordagi täielikult silmapiirilt kadunud (netivabadus, metainfo talletamine, sõrmejäljed, jne). Praegu on sama sildi tõstnud kas jälle meie, või seekord keskid teised. Sildil on esialgu ka küsimärke.
Tallinnas, Põhjala tehase Ankrusaalis toimub 4. septembril kell algusega kell 19:00 uue korrakaitseseaduse kriitiline arutelu. Arutelu juhtatavad sisse õigusteadlane Paloma Krõõt Tupay ja vandeadvokaat Kalev Aavik.
Olete oodatud, kuid ma ei julge lubada koosoleku kohta midagi, kuna ei tunne kedagi selle korraldajatest. Info toimumisest leidsin Feministeeriumi kaudu.
Ürituse kutse leiab siit (ettevaatust, Facebooki link).
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Colleagues, anarchists, we may have some work awaiting. Back in 2008, we raised the banner "No to a police state" when interior minister Jüri Pihl wanted to ride roughly over the constitution after the "bronze statue riot". The topic has never really died after that (internet freedoms, data retention, fingerprinting requirements, etc). Currently, someone has raised the same banner, but we don't yet know if it's us or someone else. :)
On September 4 at 19:00 in Tallinn, at the "Anchor hall" (Ankrusaal) of the Põhjala factory, there will be a critical discussion of the new law enforcement bill. An introduction will be made by Paloma Krõõt Tupay (who researches law) and Kalev Aavik (who practises as a lawyer).
You're welcome to join, but I cannot promise anything about the event, because I don't have contact with the organizers. I found the information via Feministeerium.
An invitation to the event can be found here (beware, Facebook link).
This one didn't have rocket boosters, but was also nice: :)
( it traveled 180 km on one charge, back in 2009 :D )
Apparently, the Caspian Sea Monster is back, and it's electric now. :) If I had a need for watercraft (I live on land and I don't need more than a SUP board), this would be something that I'd try building (naturally with seatbelts and airbags to survive a crash). :)
Wow. :)
I was expecting something with rotor sails, but I click, and it's a fancy new derivative of schooners. :)
As a result, I guess that rotating masts aren't optimal after all - too much moving mass, impossible to take down during a hurricane, etc.
I also guess that this sailboat has a fairly good motor, for use during total lack of wind (rare) or storms that would damage sails or masts.
Linux, now 33, "won't be big and professional like GNU" in 1991
This is not just a "happy birthday" post for Linux, but also a reminder that despite it becoming big and professional, the freedom to tinker with Linux remains accessible.
I had to use this freedom recently when I discovered that V4L video pipelines could buffer up to 32 frames both on the encoder and decoder (unacceptable, we demand minimum latency!) so it was again time to recompile the kernel. :)
My previous time to recompile parts of Linux had been a week ago. Some hacker had discovered a way of tricking their WiFi card beyond the legally permitted power - with what I understand as thermal compensation settings. Wanting to taste the sweet extra milliwatts, I noticed that nobody was packaging that driver as a binary, so the only way to get it was to patch and recompile its kernel module.
Finally of course, thanks to Linux we have countless open-source drivers and if you want to venture onto the path that Linus Torvalds took - of building an operating system - congratulations, you have less obstacles in your way. :) Some people have taken this path with the Circle project and you can compile your homebrew and bare-metal kernel for a Raspberry Pi with reasonable effort, and it can even draw on the screen, write to serial ports and flip GPIO lines without reverse-engineering anyone's trade secrets. :)
Regarding infiltration of the police - a similar theme played out in Greece during the 2008 economic crisis, when Golden Dawn vied for power - they tried hard to infiltrate the police, and succeeded to a considerable degree.
At some point, they made a mistake, though - GD thugs killed a popular leftist rapper named Pavlos Fyssas. He was able to point out who stabbed him. His death caused widespread rioting. Rioting incapacitated GD temporarily by blocking and damaging their party offices while the security service raided high-ranking members for evidence (apparently they didn't manage to infiltrate counterintelligence and in the confusion probably couldn't dispose of evidence even if they knew of incoming raids) ...and evidence was plentiful. They were banned and leaders got meaningful sentences in courts.
Only in a country where entering the police force requires lengthy studies to obtain a diploma (and background checks), is there some chance of random bozos not worming their way in. Most states of the US aren't such a place, sadly.
I wonder what the structure could have been in the past? A navigation light pillar? A ventilation shaft riser for some underground thing?
Tesla's favourability with car repair technicians probably never exceeded 5%. :)
It's a maintenance nightmare and a far cry from even slight futureproofness. If someone dumps it on you for 1000 euros with a working battery, take the battery apart and sell the rest for 500 euros. ;P
(sums slightly underestimated) ;)
Yep, indeed, I'm already discovering differences too. :) A good document for techies to read seems to be here.
https://reticulum.network/manual/understanding.html
I also think I see a problem on the horizon: announce traffic volume. According to this description, it seems that Reticulum tries to forward all announces to every transport node (router). In a small network, that's OK. In a big network, this can become a challenge (disclaimer: I've participated in building I2P, but ages ago, but I still remember some stuff well enough to predict where a problem might pop up). Maintenance of the routing table / network database / <other term for a similar thing> is among the biggest challenges when things get intercontinental.
Interesting project, thank you for introducing. :)
I haven't tested anything, but only checked their specs (sadly I didn't find out how they manage without a distributed hashtable).
Reticulum does not use source addresses. No packets transmitted include information about the address, place, machine or person they originated from.
Sounds like mix networks like I2P and (to a lesser degree, since its role is proxying out to the Internet) like TOR. Mix networks send traffic using the Internet, so the bottom protocol layers (TCP and UDP) use IP addresses. Higher protocol layers (end to end messages) use cryptographic identifiers.
There is no central control over the address space in Reticulum. Anyone can allocate as many addresses as they need, when they need them.
Sounds like TOR and I2P, but people's convenience (easily resolving a name to an address) has created centralized resources on these nets, and will likely create similar resources on any network. An important matter is whether the central name resolver can retroactively revoke a name (in I2P for example, a name that has been already distributed is irrevocable, but you can refuse to distribute it to new nodes).
Reticulum ensures end-to-end connectivity. Newly generated addresses become globally reachable in a matter of seconds to a few minutes.
The same as aforementioned mix networks, but neither of them claims operability at 5 bits per second. Generally, a megabit connection is advised to meaninfully run a mix network, because you're not expected to freeload, but help mix traffic for others (this is how the anonymity arises).
Addresses are self-sovereign and portable. Once an address has been created, it can be moved physically to another place in the network, and continue to be reachable.
True for TOR and I2P. The address is a public key. You can move the machine with the private key anywhere, it will build a tunnel to accept incoming traffic at some other node.
All communication is secured with strong, modern encryption by default.
As it should.
All encryption keys are ephemeral, and communication offers forward secrecy by default.
In mix networks, the keys used as endpoint addresses are not ephemeral, but permanent. I'm not sure if I should take this statement at face value. If Alice wants to speak to Bob tomorrow, some identifier of Bob must not be ephemeral.
It is not possible to establish unencrypted links in Reticulum networks.
Same for mix networks.
It is not possible to send unencrypted packets to any destinations in the network.
Same.
Destinations receiving unencrypted packets will drop them as invalid.
Same.
P.S.
I also checked their interface list and it looks reasonable. Dropping an idea too: an interface for WiFi cards in monitor/inject mode might help some people. If the tool gets popular, I'm sure someone will build it. :)
Interesting article, thank you. :)
I wouldn't get one for myself because I have lots of big plants (hazel, cherry and sea-buckthorn), but it makes me wonder - why did some species of fungi start glowing? Did they do it by accident, for no good reason?
As a rule of the thumb, the longer your stomach (and its bacteria) have to work to get calories extracted from a food (this has a big correlation with the food not being excessively pre-processed, and also has a big correlation with lack of additives) - the better it is for you. :)
We will surely learn the precise reasons later. Until then, acting upon that information is possible without knowing why. :)
NB: anarhismi teemaline kanal lemm.ee serveris :)
Eesti piirkonna anarhistlik kogukond. Estonian anarchist community. Eesti ja Inglise keel lubatud. Both English and Estonian accepted. (Russian too if I can get a mod capable of understanding).
Järjehoidja .ee anarhistidele: lemm.ee serveris on kah anarhismi teemaline kanal. See loodi äsja ning suurt midagi hetkel veel ei toimu. :)
A bookmark for anarhists in .ee: please note, on the server lemm.ee, there is also a channel about anarchism. It appeared recently and there is not much to see currently. :)
A possible direct exposure of the Earth to the cold dense interstellar medium 2–3 Myr ago
Modelling suggests that the Solar System may have passed through a cold dense cloud 2–3 Myr ago, in agreement with geological evidence from 60Fe and 244Pu isotopes, putting Earth in direct contact with the dense interstellar medium with potentially substantial impacts on its climate.
In the article, researchers modeled the passage of the solar system through the galactic interstellar medium, components of which move at differing velocities and orbits.
They found that approximately 2-3 megayears ago, the solar system most likely entered a cloud of mainly cold hydrogen, and the density of the cloud was such that it should have considerably compressed the heliosphere (Sun's bubble of radiation and fields). Earth would have been outside the heliosphere either permanently or periodically. Currently the heliosphere ends far beyond the most distant planet, at approximately 130 Earth-Sun distances (astronomical units).
This would have greatly subdued the influence of solar wind on Earth, at the same time exposing the planet to interstellar cosmic rays. It is further speculated that studies which analyze Earth climate during the aforementioned period may benefit from accounting for this possibility.
Researchers sought confirmation for their model from geological records and found some, in the isotope content of iron and plutonium in sediments: iron 60 and plutonium 244 aren't produced by processes on Earth, so an influx would mean that solar wind no longer sufficed to beat back interstellar gas and dust (the latter containing radioisotopes from supernova explosions).
> "By studying geological radioisotopes on Earth, we can learn about the past of the heliosphere. 60Fe is predominantly produced in supernova explosions and becomes trapped in interstellar dust grains. 60Fe has a half-life of 2.6 Myr, and 244Pu has a half-life of 80.7 Myr. 60Fe is not naturally produced on Earth, and so its presence is an indicator of supernova explosions within the last few (~10) million years. 244Pu is produced through the r-process that is thought to occur in neutron star mergers22. Evidence for the deposition of extraterrestrial 60Fe onto Earth has been found in deep-sea sediments and ferromanganese crusts between 1.7 and 3.2 Ma (refs. 23,24,25,26,27), in Antarctic snow [28] and in lunar samples [29]. The abundances were derived from new high-precision accelerator mass spectrometry measurements. The 244Pu/60Fe influx ratios are similar at ~2 Ma, and there is evidence of a second peak at ~7 Ma (refs. 23,24)."
Eesti Konservatiivsest Rahvaerakonnast (EKRE) teisipäeva õhtul välja visatud endine juhatuse liige ja esimehe kohale kandideerida soovinud Silver Kuusik ütles, et oodata on uusi lahkumisi EKRE-st ning rõhutas, et rahvuskonservatiivset maailmavaadet saad edendada ka ilma perekond Helmeta.
Since Estonian readers know already, this summary is only for English speakers: after many years of haunting the political landscape with gradually growing vote counts, the Estonian Conservative People's Party (authoritarian right), has finally collapsed into a crisis.
It's not a crisis of values (they are all still conservative and many are authoritarian too), but a crisis of internal democracy due to the dictatorial habits of the "ruling family" - father and son Mart and Martin Helme.
Three prominent members, one of whom intending to challenge the party leader in internal elections, were kicked out during a board meeting, after which several more prominent members (among them several MPs and one MEP) either left the party of announced intention of leaving.
Everyone involved had adequate warning about the lack of internal democracy, it is just that they tolerated it longer than anticipated. The big bang comes after years of gradual kick-outs.
> ""If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by." - Sun Tzu
Rahandusministeeriumis valminud eelnõu seaduseks saamisel kaob ettevõtluskontole teenitud tulu maksustamisel kõrgem, 40-protsendiline maksumäär. Ühtlasi hakkavad kehtima uued maksumäärad neile ettevõtluskonto kasutajatele, kes on liitunud teise pensionisambaga.
For English speakers: boring but scandalous tax news from Estonia. If the proposed changes are passed into law, it will no longer be possible to pay a progressive income tax in Estonia even voluntarily (by having an automatically taxed "entrepreneur's private account"). It's surreal. The state budget is tearing apart after the COVID expenses, military expenses due to our dear eastern neighbour [both unavoidable, I would say] and meanwhile politicians find ways to ease the tax burden on the well-earning (I am one of them and have paid the higher tax tier on some years). And of course - the really wealthy folks who own actual companies - they never had to pay it. Me, I'm going to wait until the dust settles and publish something about this farce, as I think the progressive tax system should be expanded, not ended.
Lühikokkuvõte: Eestis ei saa astmelist tulumaksu enam isegi vabatahtlikult maksta. Päris rikkad pole seda kunagi maksma pidanud, aga nüüd ei saa seda maksta ka üksi tegutsevad väikeettevõtjad. Riigieelarve käriseb pärast pandeemiat ja sõda Ukrainas sunnib peale vältimatud kõrged kaitsekulutused, aga meil plaanitakse jõukamate klasside maksukoormust langetada. Sürreaalne. :o Ootan, kuni tolm langeb ja pilt selgineb, siis tuleb selle kohta artikkel.
Soomes (Vantaas) rajatakse maa alla maailma suurim soojushoidla mahuga 90 GWh
World’s largest thermal energy storage to be built in Vantaa, Finland
For English speakers: I've previously written about the Helsinki thermal store. Now I'm happy to mention the planned Vantaa thermal store, which is going to be built for 200 million euros and will store nearly enough heat to keep Vantaa warm through the winter (specifically 90 GWh). It's going to be charged with waste heat and direct electrical heating during periods of renewable energy overproduction.
Olen varem kirjutanud Helsingi soojushoidlast, nüüd saan mainida Vantaa oma - see rajatakse ca. 200 miljoni euro eest ja suudab valmides salvestada põhimõtteliselt kogu Vantaa talvise vajaduse jagu küttesoojust. Soojushoidlat kavatsetakse täita jääksoojusega solgiveest, andmekeskustest ja 2 x 60 MW otsese elektriküttega taastuvenergia ületoodangu perioodidel. Väga huvitav projekt, millele õnnestumist sooviks.
Slovakkia uus valitsus püüab tugevdada kontrolli ajakirjanduse üle. Sealne rahvusringhääling kardab muutmist valitsuse häälekandjaks ning erameediat ähvardab majanduslik surve ja valitsuspoliitikute boikott. Seejuures on slovakid üks enim vandenõuteooriatesse uskuv rahvas.
For English speakers: an article from the Estonian public broadcaster about the Slovakian public broadcaster (and government). Unfortunately, there's some sad news - the new government of Slovakia is intending to tear down and rebuild from scratch their public broadcasting company. And everyone knows what that means: convenient people will be installed in the offices that count, so that news could be more favourable for the government in future. Stage 1 of authoritarian takeover. There is opposition to it, of course, and hopefully it won't get anywhere.
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Slovakkia kandist on nukrad uudised: uus valitsus juba sirutab kätt avalik-õigusliku meedia järele, eesmärgiga et suure ümber struktureerimise kattevarjus "omad joped" ametisse panna ja tulevikus omale meelepärasemaid uudiseid toota. Riigi autoritaarse ülevõtmise retseptis on selline liigutus tähtsal kohal. Loodetavasti ebaõnnestub.
Astmelise tulumaksu kehtestamist toetab 60 protsenti ja selle vastu oleks 30 protsenti Eesti kodanikest, selgus neljapäeval avaldatud küsitluse tulemustest, mille viis Ühiskonnauuringute Instituudi tellimusel läbi Norstat Eesti. Toetus astmelise tulumaksu kehtestamisele oli üle 50 protsendi kõigi su...
For English speakers: adopting a progressive income tax would be currently supported by 60% of Estonia's voters and opposed by 30% (support has previously been as high as 75%). The measure would be supported by 5 parties out of 6 and narrowly opposed by 1 party (which is split in the question). This has been the situation for 20 years. And the result? We have no progressive income tax, because politicians (who are nearly without exception high-income persons) aren't that keen on listening to the population in certain questions, and the population - easily distracted and clumsy at demanding stuff. :o
Nagu näha, toetaks meedet (jätkuvalt, juba ca. 20 aastat) nii elanikkonna enamus kui parteide enamus. Kõik peale praeguse peaministri erakonna toetaks astmelist tulumaksu, ja peaministri erakonnast kah pooled. Paraku ei ole seda juhtunud. Kurvastusega tuleb tõdeda, et poliitikuid (kes on pea eranditult kõrge sissetulekuga isikud) teatud küsimustes valijate soovid eriti ei huvita - valijad aga on hajameelsed ja oskamatud asjade nõudmisel. :o
Alexey Navalny has died in a Russian penal colony in the far north
I feared he would be martyred, when he returned to Russia after getting poisoned by the FSB and helping Bellingcat track down the agents who poisoned him (nobody in power did anything about them). Back then, his life was saved by a pilot deciding to make an emergency landing and a doctor suspecting a neurotoxin.
What finally took his life will be difficult to ascertain due to lack of transparency - a remote location, an extremely authoritarian system, war, politically controlled law enforcement and courts. Still, a day before death, Navalny appeared in court for another potential addition to his already 19-year sentence - in good spirits.
During Navalny's imprisonment, the regime made a sustained effort to break that spirit, issuing a constant stream of disciplinary punishments (a total of 27 times): for not placing his hands behind his back, for incorrectly introducing himself, for uttering a profanity, for failing to clear leaves in the yard, for citing the European Court of Human Rights’ demand for his release, for addressing the guard without using a patronym, and for declining to wash the fence.
They also transfered him to the far north and previously used sleep deprivement against him. I tend to assume that they also killed him, either directly or indirectly.
He was definitely not the perfect politician, but did things which a common politician never dares to do, which suggests having some principles. When they came for anarchists, he didn't forget them, but also spoke for anarchists.
Jens, Riin ja Kätri tahavad muuta kogu ühiskonda. Neile ei sobi klassikaline liberalism. Neid paelub hoopis tasaareng: iga inimese kohta kindlaks määratud ruutmeetrite ja reiside arv, mis päästaks meid kliimakollapsist. Noorte progressiividega vestles Anna Teele Orav.
Eesti Ekspress on pühendanud artikli Progressiivse Liikumise tegemistele. Kahjuks on nad selle toppinud maksumüüri taha. Kui ma maksumüürist tee ümber leian, kommenteerin all.
The paper Eesti Eksrpress has dedicated an article to the doings of the Progressive Movement. Unfortunately they have paywalled it. If I find a way past the paywall, I will comment below.
Taastuvenergia maht ületas mullu fossiilkütustest toodetud elektrienergia kogust
Summary for the English-speakers: last year Estonia, a country traditionally running on oil shale, has finally produced most of its electrical power from renewable sources. Renewables produced 2.6 TWh while fossils only 2.3 TWh - but the report is needlessly optimistic as 1.2 TWh out of the renewables still involved burning stuff (waste, wood chip and other biomass).
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Verstapostist on mööda saadud, aga tegelikkus ilusate arvude taga on, et pool meie "taastuvenergiast" emiteerib süsihappegaasi. Siiski on ka see parem kui mitte midagi. :)
Reporting a case of moderator misconduct in c/solarpunk
Background: yesterday, there was heated discussion in the thread "military-industrial complex is a supervillain of causing the climate crisis" (link).
Among others, the thread creator posted a comment to the Guardian article "The climate costs of war and militaries can no longer be ignored", commenting it thusly:
> If you want more context or won’t take my word on how militarism will kill is all, you can read this article.
I replied, a copy of my reply is below for your judgement. My reply got moderated by someone with the reason "Comment does not address intent of original post and promotes weapons industry / war in Ukraine."
I think my comment both addressed the topic, did not promote the weapons industry but helping Ukraine defend itself (ironically, tools for military self-defense come from the weapons industry) and did not promote the war (in fact, I noted that war is expensive, resource-intensive and stupid), but did explain the dynamics of war and revolutions.
I consider this moderator misconduct, likely motivated by their political views - and have asked a server administrator to talk with the moderator involved, to ascertain if they can refrain from using moderator powers as a political club to hit people, or to secure their demotion from a moderating role.
The removed post, for your judgement:
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> The article is fine, and I second the recommendation to read it, but from the article to the slogan you present, things do not follow a logical path.
> Yes, war is both an incredibly expensive activity (diverting money that could be used) and a resource-intensive activity (the money goes into actual materials that almost surely destroy something or get destroyed) and an incredibly stupid activity (and it can snowball)...
> ...but the problem is that successful unilateral disarmament during a war tends to result in a situation called "defeat". If the defeat is not an attack being defeated, but defense being defeated, that is called a "conquest". Now, letting a conquest succeed has a historical tendency of the conqueror having more experience at conquest, and more resources to conquer with... which has, several times in history, lead to another conquest or a whole series of conquests. A regional war in Ukraine resulting in Ukraine being taken over by Russia has a high probability of producing:
> 1) a bigger regional war later, in which Russia, using its own resources and those of Ukraine, proceeds to another country, gets into a direct conflict with NATO and then indeed there is a risk of a global war
> 2) an encouraging effect after which China, noting that international cooperation against the agressor was ultimately insufficient, and deeming itself better prepared than Russia, decides that it can take Taiwan with military force
> However, a war ending with inability to show victory tends to produce a revolution in the invading country. For example, World War I produced a revolution in Russia and subsequently a revolution in Germany, with several smaller revolutions in between, empires collapsing and a brief bloom of democracy in Europe, before the Great Depression and the rise of fascism ate all the fruits. The Falklands War produced a revolution in Argentina. The Russo-Japanese war produced the 1905 near-revolution in Russia.
> It is better for Ukraine to not get conquered. It is better for Russia to be unable to conquer Ukraine. That result is also better for everyone around them. It's even better globally because it sets a precedent of large-scale cooperation defeating an agressive superpower, discouraging agressive superpowers from undertaking similar wars until memory starts fading again.
> Unfortunately, until we see indications that Russian society is getting ready to stop the war (this could involve starting negotiations on terms palatable to Ukraine, a change of leadership, a withdrawal, a revolution, etc)... the path to achieving that outcome remains wearing out the agressor: producing enough weapons and delivering them to Ukraine.
> Ultimately, both sides in a war wear each other down. The soldiers most eager to fight are killed soonest. The people most unwilling to get mobilized or recruited, and soldiers most unwilling to fight - they remain alive. If they are pressed forever, some day they will make the calculation: there are less troops blocking the way home than in the trenches of the opposing side. After that realization, they eventually tend to mutiny. Invading troops tend to do that a bit easier than defending troops, because they sense less purpose in their activity. In the long run, if nothing else happens, that will happen. There is just (probably, regrettably) no particularly quick shortcut to getting there.
Riias toimub 24-26. mail anarhistlik raamatulaat
Läti anarhistid korraldavad raamatulaada. Sellest kirjutab Soome anarhistide portaal "takku.net". / Latvian anarchists are holding a bookfair in spring. The Finnish anarchist portal "takku.net" reports about it.
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We announce the 1st Anarchist Bookfair in Riga 24-26 May 2024
We are going to continue the tradition of Anarchist bookfairs which have been held in Tallinn, Stockholm and London. We invite all the Anarchist and Antiauthoritarian publishers to present and sell their books, magazines, newspapers, cartoons, etc and everybody interseted to spend the weekend with us, take part in discussions and seminars. The event is open to everybody and no prior registration is required. The details of the programme will come later.
If you want to sell/present your printed matter, please, write to [email protected] We have a limited number of tables/stalls, order them in advance. The deadline for booking is May, 1 2024. We are going to hold a special round table discussion for Anarchist publishers, bloggers, writers, artists and translators. Let us know if you want to take part.
If you want to make a presentation/lecture/workshop/concert you are most welcome. Please write to [email protected] The deadline is 23.04.2024
When: 24-26 May 2024
Where: Riga, Latvia
Riga, the capital city of Latvia, is situated at the Baltic sea and it is an ideal meeting place for all those interested from the East and the West. Latvia has a glorious anarchist history dating from 19 century and of anarchist and libertarian socialist print in various languages, including Latvian, Russian, Yeddish. Latvia has beautiful nature and May is the best time to come, when there are not so many tourists and it is already warm. Latvia has very rich history of brewery and one of the best beers in Europe.
Keskmine elektri hind tõuseb reedel 890 eurole megavatt-tunnist
For English speakers: electricity consumers in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are having "interesting times" at the moment. A sudden intrusion of arctic air has resulted in very low temperatures (down to -40 C in northern Finland) and resultingly, electricity prices are super high. In addition, one energy block in the Forsmark NPP is down in Sweden. The Finnish grid administrator has thus advised people to use electricity sparingly.
The unavoidable blame game of "why" will unavoidably follow. To state the most obvious, an excess of weather is excessive. :) But the pricing algorithm of Nord Pool (the common electricity exchange of Northern Europe) is such that the highest asker whose services are needed "makes the price" for everyone during that hour. Whether that is reasonable, is not obvious (and not trivial to prove or disprove).
However, the region also has a definite lack of energy storage. Lack of storage means that when a bad day comes, instead of graceful rise, some operators are warming up big power stations which use inefficient fuels from a stone-cold status, only to let them cool down tomorrow. Such activity costs the consumer a big penny.
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ERR kirjutab sellest, mis parasjagu turul toimub. Eestis saab nautida enamuse reedest elektrit hinnaga 0.8 € / KWh, tipptundidel aga 1.8 € / KWh. Soomes on võimalik itkeda hinnataseme juures 2.3 € / KWh. Kuidas sellist nalja ära hoida saaks? Või ei saagi?
Minu hinnangul - ikka saab. Olemas peab lihtsalt olema mingeid vähegi normaalse kütusega töötavaid varuvõimsusi, mille liinile toomine on natuke kergema klassi ülesanne kui mäe soojaks ajamine. :)
Olemas peab olema ka salvestavaid võimsusi. Siis hakkab hind kerkima sujuvalt, sedamööda kuidas ilmaennustust lugenud salvestajad päikeselisel päeval oma energiasalvi täidavad ja odavamad varus seisnud jaamad mitu päeva kuumana käivad (samuti selleks, et pahal päeval kõik energiasalved täis oleks)... selle asemel et ühe meeletu lõpuspurdi käigus üheks meeletuks päevaks ka kõige raiskavam tootmisseade üles kütta... ja taas jahtuda lasta. Selline tegevus lihtsalt peabki olema väga ebaefektiivne.
Hind tõuseks ikka, aga salvestusvõimsuste leidumisel sujuvamalt. Tervislikuma tootmisvõimsuste segu korral mitte nii järsult. Tegemist on lahendatava probleemiga. Lahendus võib olla kas tehniline (jättes Nordpooli veidi kummaline algoritm samaks) aga võib ka peituda turu reeglite muutmises. Kas viimane turule mahtunud pakkuja ikka peab "tegema hinna kõigi jaoks"?
Minu jaoks teoreetiline küsimus, kuna eilne päikesepaiste täitis kõik omad kõik varud üle ootuste.
Häid külmapühasid.
Miks ma Eesti redditis "kõik putsi saatsin" ja mis seal viga on?
A topic about some pointless reddit, please ignore. / Teema mingi mõttetu redditi kohta, palun eirake.
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Hiljuti oli jälle võimalik näha Eesti redditit selle uues hiilguses. Kuna see oli mitmes kord, siis kannatus katkes - saatsin olukorra põhjustajad ning probleemi eirajad iga ilmakaare suunas ja tulin ära.
Diagnoos:
- arvestatav kogus totalitaarsuse ihalejaid
- kogunevad nagu kärbsed teatud teemadesse
- seal teemades on neil lokaalne enamus
- teevad üleskutseid vägivallale ja totalitaarsete ideede toeks
- üldine populatsioon ei viitsi nendega tegeleda, kuna on meelt lahutamas
- lisaks on provokaator reeglina "omade poolel", keskmise redditori aju tõrgub siinkohal
- reeglid ütlevad, et "meil on selleks moderaatorid"
- kuna mind võidakse bännida, järgin reegleid ja ei pea nendega kodusõda
- paraku, moderaatorid ei tegele
- ja Redditi adminid ei loe eesti keelt
Kui eelnevad tingimused on täidetud, siis ongi valmis kasvulava, kus liberaalid toidavad metsast leitud haiget fašismi - ja kui anarhist ütleb, et viige fašism metsa tagasi, siis anarhist on liiga radikaalne ja liberaalid ei vii - hoiavad ja toidavad edasi, küllap kuni hammustama hakkab.
Omaette fenomen on silmakirjalikkus ja musta valgeks rääkimine. See on seal kah kõrgelt arenenud.
Toda keskkonda ühelegi anarhistile poliitiliseks aruteluks ei soovita. Mudaaugus, kus pooltel on juba mudaplönn peos, ei saa arutleda, vaid muda loopida.
[this is an English translation of the original article in Polish, we occasionally publish the best cyber stories from Poland in English] A train manufactured by a Polish company suddenly broke down during maintenance. The experts
This article is about fixing, but with a twist - it's about fixing trains that their manufacturer sabotaged. :D
In Poland, it took the hacker crew "Dragon Sector" months of work to find a software "time bomb" that was sabotaging "Impuls" trains manufactured by Newag, once their maintenance was handed over to another company.
Let this be a reminder to everyone about closed source technology and critical infrastructure.
Notes on living off grid: "the snow always comes for you"
Living off grid often correlates with poorly accessible locations - because that's where the infrastructure is not.
On certain latitudes, especially near bodies of water, especially in remote locations - do not ask who the snow comes for - it always comes for you (and with a grudge). So, what ya gonna do?
Over here, a tractor being incomplete (it is great folly to go into winter with an incomplete tractor), snow is handled by an electric microcar. Since the microcar is made of thin sheet metal and plastic, it cannot carry a plow... but the rear axle being solid steel, it can pull one.
The plow is one year old, and was previously pulled by a gasoline car. It is made of construction steel: 8 mm L-profiles shaped like a letter A with double horizontal bars. The point of connection on top ensures it doesn't lift too much while plowing. It's currently fixed with an unprofessional and temporary C-clamp (there will be an U-bolt soon). It is pulled with a chain.
If snow is heavy, the L-profiles lift the plow on top of snow, and you have to plow the same road many times. Sometimes it veers off sideways. Generally, you have to catch the snow early with this system - if you're late, you're stuck. :)
Not many advantages, but dirt cheap. Don't go plowing public roads with such devices - it is nearly invisible to fellow drivers, and cops would get a seizure.
A tin-based tandem electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction to ethanol with 80% selectivity
The majority of electrocatalysts selective for CO2 reduction to ethanol are based on Cu. Here the authors report a highly ethanol-selective Sn-based electrocatalyst, which is proposed to operate via a tandem mechanism.
Some Chinese researchers have found a new catalyst for electrochemically reducing CO2. Multiple such catalysts are known, but so far, only copper favours reaction products with a carbon chain of at least 2 carbons (e.g. ethanol).
The new catalyst requires a specific arrangement of tin atoms on tin disulphate substrate, seems to work in a solution of potassium hydrogen carbonate (read: low temperature) and is 80% specific to producing ethanol - a very practical chemical feedstock and fuel.
The new catalyst seems stable enough (97% activity after 100 hours). Reaction rates that I can interpret into "good" or "bad" aren't found - it could be slow to work. The original is paywalled, a more detailed article can be found at:
Carbon-Carbon Coupling on a Metal Non-metal Catalytic Pair
Overall, it's nice to see some research into breaking down CO2 for energy storage, but there is nothing practical (industrial) on that front yet, only lab work.