Today I Learned

[Swamp Thing]

TIL that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency still uses 5.25 inch floppy disks to boot up its Automatic Train Control System that runs light-rail trains in the Market Street subway.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...-to-help-run-san-francisco-trains-until-2030/

There are enough expensive legacy systems operating, that someone would surely have come up with a floppy drive emulator interface that would plug into the older buses (e.g. IDE, IIRC)? You could then use a USB drive to run those old machines. This would delay the expense of redeveloping a high investment solution from scratch, of course. For example there are some very expensive microwave test instruments that are perfectly good but use obsolete operating systems and removable storage.

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that Harvard has returned to requiring standardized test results in admissions applications. They observed that while such results are biased, grades and letters of recommendation and personal essays are even more biased. Daddy Warbucks could hire a coach to help Annie with that essay.

Henry Ford II got kicked out of college after he handed in his senior thesis. Within the sheets was an invoice from the writing service.

 

[BillTre]

Things are getting warmer:

 

[BillTre]

Its palindrome day:
42424, AKA 4/24/24

 

[OmCheeto]

Its palindrome day:
42424, AKA 4/24/24

That's two in 4 days: 4/20/2024 --> 4202024

 

[BillTre]

That's two in 4 days: 4/20/2024 --> 4202024

Missed that one.

 

[OmCheeto]

Missed that one.

It popped up in my 'stoner' feed.

 

[Orodruin]

Its palindrome day:
42424, AKA 4/24/24

Not if you comply with ISO standard.
2024-04-24

 

[gmax137]

Not if you comply with ISO standard.
2024-04-24

I don't.

 

[Orodruin]

I don't.

 

[berkeman]

Wow, TIL that there are specially-built/modified vehicles that are used by Storm Chasing teams here in the US:

The SRV Dominator is the name given to a series of vehicles used for Reed Timmer, as featured on the Discovery Channel series Storm Chasers (SRV stands for Storm Research Vehicle). In April 2013, Timmer, designer and operator of all three Dominator vehicles, joined KFOR-TV's 4WARN Storm Team, all three vehicles collectively referred to by the station as "Dominator 4".[1]

The Dominator​

The Dominator was modified from a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe that was used during the 2008 storm chasing season and debuted in the 2009 chase season. The modifications included adding bulletproof sheet metal and transparent Lexan armor to protect against flying debris near tornadoes, and an external roll cage and racing-style safety harnesses in case of a vehicle roll.[2] The SRV is not designed to intercept (due mainly to a lack of an anchoring system as employed on the TIV 2) but is able to get as close as "humanly possible" to tornadoes. In 2009, a tornado in Aurora, Nebraska unexpectedly strengthened right over the Dominator and blew out the driver's window, when its exterior Lexan window failed to roll up. Reed Timmer and one of his passengers suffered lacerations to the face from flying glass.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRV_Dominator

 

[Swamp Thing]

TIL that there is a species of fish (common name : bogue) with the scientific name Boops Boops. Sadly, it's pronounced bow-ops.

 

[BillTre]

TIL that there is a species of fish (common name : bogue) with the scientific name Boops Boops. Sadly, it's pronounced bow-ops.

Don't worry there are still boobies:

 

[Hornbein]

Wow, TIL that there are specially-built/modified vehicles that are used by Storm Chasing teams here in the US:

View attachment 344339




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRV_Dominator

Ha! They pretend SRV is Storm Research Vehicle, but it's really Stevie Ray Vaughn.

 

[BillTre]

Here is a cool picture from orbit, from NASA via the Planetary Society, to here:

 

[Bystander]

TIL: took my introductory trip down the "OTT rabbit hole;" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-top_media_service
no wonder I've been totally baffled recovering from the stroke...something really DID happen to the world nine years ago...actually earlier, but it hadn't taken effect any real effect.

 

[pinball1970]

High lead content in Beethoven’s hair.

https://academic.oup.com/clinchem/advance-article/doi/10.1093/clinchem/hvae054/7651113?login=false


“Our findings confirm the presence of high hair lead concentrations in both the Bermann Lock (method 1, 258 µg/g; method 2, 254 µg/g) and the Halm-Thayer Lock (method 1, 380 µg/g; method 2, 369 µg/g), approximately 64- and 95- fold higher than the upper limit of the reference interval (<4 µg/g), respectively. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proposed conversion formula of values from hair lead concentration to blood lead concentration (4), the estimate of Beethoven’s blood lead concentration would have been 69 to 71 µg/dL. Such lead levels are commonly associated with gastrointestinal and renal ailments and decreased hearing but are not considered high enough to be the sole cause of death. Suggested primary sources of lead exposure include plumbed wine, dietary factors, and medical treatments (5). Worth noting is that we also observed increased levels of arsenic and mercury in both locks of hair by approximately 13- and 4-fold compared to the reference intervals (<1 µg/g), respectively.”

 

[symbolipoint]

TIL a new word: Enshitification

A former Microsoft employee or manager described a progression of how technology companies change how they handle their technologies according to increases in advertising. Look for the YouTube channel, "Ask Leo!", and find the recent video "Why I've Stopped Using Google Search".

What seems to be a good article about this enshitification is the wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification .

 

[Hornbein]

I thought it was established that van Beethoven's deafness came from lead in cheap wine. It was used as a sweetener.

 

[pinball1970]

I thought it was established that van Beethoven's deafness came from lead in cheap wine. It was used as a sweetener.

Yes, "plumbed wine" mentioned above but also fish and glass.

 

[Borg]

TIL a new word: Enshitification

And now I have as well.

 

[gmax137]

What seems to be a good article about this enshitification is the wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification .

Interesting take on "the good old days." I would add the cable TV movie services to the list of examples. It started as "pay us $5 a month and watch movies without ads." Now it is $10 and they pipe in advertising. Ugh.

 

[Jacobes]

Java Script

 

[Drakkith]

Today I learned what happens when you forget to refill the transmission fluid in your transmission after replacing a half-shaft.

Also, if anyone has a used manual transmission for a Dodge Caliber, ship it my way.

 

[Hornbein]

Til that Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham attended San Jose State University.

 

[Tom.G]

Today I learned what happens when you forget to refill the transmission fluid in your transmission after replacing a half-shaft.

Also, if anyone has a used manual transmission for a Dodge Caliber, ship it my way.

At least you now have some 'Iron filings' for visualizing magnetic fields.

 

[BillTre]

This is a concern I have based on the occasionally overly polite drivers in Eugene, OR.

This has happened in town here with bicycles a few times, and its stupid.

 

[DaveE]

One of my related pet-peeves, learned on sailboats as a kid:

If you have the right of way, you have an obligation to use it. You may think you're being nice letting the other guy choose to go, but you're really just confusing everyone. Go, get out of my way, then I'll go. It will work best for everyone.

Oh, yea, learn those rules, too.

 

[DaveC426913]

If you have the right of way, you have an obligation to use it. You may think your being nice letting the other guy choose to go, but your really just confusing everyone. Go, get out of my way, then I'll go. It will work best for everyone.

+1

 

[Ibix]

If you have the right of way, you have an obligation to use it.

I generally agree. However, the problem is that the guy emerging can be stuck there forever if the queue in the left turn lane is replenished too quickly. So he may have to take an offered opportunity eventually. Of course, he should do so cautiously and creep-and-check out into the road - but because he wants to be nice to the guy who was nice to him he might skip that bit to emerge quicker, and that's when the trouble starts.

It would also help if the traffic on the road were alive to the possibility of a mis-timed emerge instead of blasting along at 45 right next to a queue of stationary traffic and with an empty lane to his right...