The unimportant news thread

[steve ridgway]

It's possible there's a black hole in our own solar system.
(But if it's there, it's only a baby black hole for now.)
https://phys.org/news/2020-07-scientists-planet-primordial-black-hole.amp

There's certainly a lot of stuff in the solar system, much more than people thought 50 years ago.

[Todd]

Confederate flag in Paris police precinct draws scorn

That's Paris, France, not Paris, Texas, btw.

[Todd]

They lost the Civil War and fled to Brazil. Their descendants refuse to take down the Confederate flag.

Confederate flags around the world.

[MusicTurner]

Stories from Belarus rarely get much attention; the authoritarian society seems static. But about a month ago, some experts predicted that Lukashenko would probably repressively take the upcoming elections on August 9th; however, he'd then begin loosing his power for real. Maybe the predictions are correct; we'll see.

"It's exciting to see the change of Belarus' opposition leadership. After male candidates were kicked out from the race, these brave women took the lead - Maryja Kalesnikava, Vieranika Capkala, and Sviatlana Cichanouskaja. Lukashenka still underestimates their power. He is wrong."

https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1284824702083530753

+
https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1284868210462990337
https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1285150436727685121

[drogulus]

Stories from Belarus rarely get much attention; the authoritarian society seems static. But about a month ago, some experts predicted that Lukashenko would probably repressively take the upcoming elections on August 9th; however, he'd then begin loosing his power for real. Maybe the predictions are correct; we'll see.

"It's exciting to see the change of Belarus' opposition leadership. After male candidates were kicked out from the race, these brave women took the lead - Maryja Kalesnikava, Vieranika Capkala, and Sviatlana Cichanouskaja. Lukashenka still underestimates their power. He is wrong."

https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1284824702083530753

+
https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1284868210462990337
https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1285150436727685121

     Wanting to choose women opponents sounds very TrumPutiny to me. It's funny how much easier it is to grok these guys when one of them is in charge of your own country.

     "Let's not call it" fascism is so close to the "OK to call it" kind that the only reason to distinguish them is to make knowledge from history harder to assimilate. You aren't supposed to understand Trump according to how he behaves but instead treat his lies and fantasies as though they were a superior kind of truth. But truly, this is as much a part of the playbook as the bullying, scapegoating and undermining the fantasies and lies justify.

[MusicTurner]

     Wanting to choose women opponents sounds very TrumPutiny to me. It's funny how much easier it is to grok these guys when one of them is in charge of your own country.

     "Let's not call it" fascism is so close to the "OK to call it" kind that the only reason to distinguish them is to make knowledge from history harder to assimilate. You aren't supposed to understand Trump according to how he behaves but instead treat his lies and fantasies as though they were a superior kind of truth. But truly, this is as much a part of the playbook as the bullying, scapegoating and undermining the fantasies and lies justify.

Well, The Moscow Times writes this today:

"Lukashenko has repeatedly belittled women politicians. Belarussian society "has not yet matured enough to vote for a woman," he said in May, adding last month that a woman president "would collapse, poor thing." The president said in his electoral declaration he is still married - but his wife, whom he wed in 1975, is never seen with him in public. His teenage son Nikolai often accompanies him on public engagements."

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/20/in-belarus-3-women-unite-to-fight-strongman-lukashenko-a70925

Some fast updates, of course, at https://twitter.com/hashtag/Belarus?src=hashtag_click&f=live

[drogulus]

Well, The Moscow Times writes this today:

"Lukashenko has repeatedly belittled women politicians. Belarussian society "has not yet matured enough to vote for a woman," he said in May, adding last month that a woman president "would collapse, poor thing." The president said in his electoral declaration he is still married - but his wife, whom he wed in 1975, is never seen with him in public. His teenage son Nikolai often accompanies him on public engagements."

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/20/in-belarus-3-women-unite-to-fight-strongman-lukashenko-a70925

Some fast updates, of course, at https://twitter.com/hashtag/Belarus?src=hashtag_click&f=live

     I've never been to the site before, probably because I hate Russia, which is very unfair.

     Anyway, here's some more Russia hate:

     Russian Police Major Falls From Window After Testifying Against Boss — Reports

     We do "after testifying against boss" differently.

[Todd]

The EU's €750bn covid-19 plan is historic—but not quite Hamiltonian

Something of note:

The deal broke two historic taboos, says Silvia Merler, head of research at Algebris Policy Forum, the advisory branch of an asset-management firm. First, Europe's leaders agreed that the European Commission can incur debt at an unprecedented scale. Starting some time in 2021, the NGEU will be funded by borrowing over six years, with bonds at a range of maturities extending to 2058. Second, a total of €390bn will be distributed as grants, and hence will not increase recipient governments' debt burden.

Maybe this time next century Europe will have its act together.

[Todd]

Chinese embassy protests over German decision to suspend Hong Kong extradition agreement

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It's possible there's a black hole in our own solar system.
(But if it's there, it's only a baby black hole for now.)
https://phys.org/news/2020-07-scientists-planet-primordial-black-hole.amp

Oohhh, how lovely!

PD

[drogulus]

     Do We Believe in U.F.O.s? That's the Wrong Question

     I don't know what "believe in" has to do with it.

As we see it, their existence, or nonexistence, is not a matter of belief.

     It never is unless you're talking about the existence of beliefs. UFOs are no exception to the rule.

     

[greg]

Continuing the discussion of computer issues, even though it was over 

I have to say hurray for the scientific method... was getting audio dropouts and playback issues in Cubase and was wondering why. I had the issue before, but it was due to not yet inserting license keys into plugins. And if you research, people have these issues from a million different types of reasons.

But... decided to do a test. I thought maybe it was just due to lack of ram. I have exactly the recommended amount by Steinberg (8 GB), but that is all relative and somewhat meaningless.

In a new project, I added one track, playback & record = good. Okay, copy that track 10 times and try, and.... there's the issues! Delete them one by one, leaving 4 or 5, and the issue is gone.

(Of course, I could also view ram usage, but I don't think it's helpful- is 80% usage enough to cause the issues or not? who knows... but in retrospect, looks like the answer is yes)

So gonna have to order more ram... 32 gb should be more than enough.  0:)

[drogulus]

     Dept Of What Possibly Could Go Wrong

     William G. Emad
Interim Assistance General Manager,
(Operations,Maintenance,Transportation)
Philadelphia International Airport
8000 Essington Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19153, USA
Email: offic.fille01@gmail.com


Attention

Re: Your Abandoned Package For Delivery



I have very vital information to give to you, but first I must have your
trust before I review it to you because it may cause me my job,so I need
somebody that I can trust for me to be able to review the secret to you.

I am Mr.Williams G. Emad, head of luggage/baggage storage facilities
(Operations,Maintenance,Transportation) here at the Philadelphia
International Airport USA. During my recent withheld package routine check
at the Airport Storage Vault, I discovered an abandoned shipment from a
Diplomat from Africa and when scanned it revealed an undisclosed sum of
money in a Metal Trunk Box weighing approximately 110kg. The consignment
was abandoned because the Contents of the
consignment was not properly declared by the consignee as ?ONEY?ather it
was declared as personal effect to avoid interrogation and also the
inability of the diplomat to pay for the United States Non Inspection
Charges which is $3,700USD. On my assumption the consignment is still left
in our Storage House here at the Philadelphia International Airport
Philadelphia till date. The details of the consignment including your
name, your email address and the
official documents from the United Nations office in Geneva are tagged on
the Trunk box.


However, to enable me confirm if you are the actual recipient of this
consignment as the assistant director of the Inspection Unit, I will
advise you provide your current Phone Number and Full Address, to enable
me cross check if it corresponds with the address on the official
documents including the name of nearest Airport around your city. Please
note that this consignment is supposed to have been returned to the United
States Treasury Department as unclaimed
delivery due to the delays in concluding the clearance processes so as a
result of this, I will not be able to receive your details on my official
email account. So in order words to enable me cross check your details, I
will advise you send the required details to my private email address for
quick processing and response. Once I confirm you as the actual recipient
of the trunk box, I can get everything concluded within 48hours upon your
acceptance and proceed to your address for delivery.


Lastly, be informed that the reason I have taken it upon myself to contact
you personally about this abandoned consignment is because I want us to
transact this business and share the money 70% for you and 30% for me
since the consignment has not yet been returned to the United States
Treasury Department after being abandoned by the diplomat so immediately
the confirmation is made, I will go ahead and pay for the United States
Non Inspection Fee of $3,700 dollars and arrange for the box to be
delivered to your doorstep Or I can bring it by myself to avoid any more
trouble but you have to assure me of my 30% share.

I wait to hear from you urgently if you are still alive and I will
appreciate if we can keep this deal confidential. Please get back to me
via my private Email (offic.fille01@gmail.com)for further directives:




Thank you.

Williams G. Emad

    Is it Williams or William?

[drogulus]

So gonna have to order more ram... 32 gb should be more than enough.  0:)

     If I can get by with 16GB of ram, you can. I know whereof I speak, since video encoding is quite memory intensive.

[André]

I guess « William »'s interim will be short-lived.

[greg]

     If I can get by with 16GB of ram, you can. I know whereof I speak, since video encoding is quite memory intensive.

Well a small project in Cubase is taking up like 3 GB of RAM, and idling is also taking up 3 GB, so if I had a massive project that is 9 GB of RAM and also wanted to run a bunch of Chrome tabs, etc. it would just get too close for comfort.

So yeah, I could get by with 16 GB, but my goal is to not enough have to worry about it at all... ordered the 32 GB of RAM, will get Monday. Also had to enable something called XMP in the BIOS if you are going for 32 gb, and not every motherboard even has that feature.

[greg]

In other news, Sega's Building #2 in Akihabara, Tokyo, is closing.

Hopefully none of the others do the same, those arcades are too awesome to close.

https://soranews24.com/2020/08/04/akihabara-saying-goodbye-to-landmark-as-giant-sega-arcade-announces-its-closing-for-good/

[drogulus]

     Could We Force the Universe to Crash?

The question is: how do you bring down a simulation of reality from inside it? The most obvious strategy would be to try to cause the equivalent of a stack overflow—asking for more space in the active memory of a program than is available—by creating an infinitely, or at least excessively, recursive process. And the way to do that would be to build our own simulated realities, designed so that within those virtual worlds are entities creating their version of a simulated reality, which is in turn doing the same, and so on all the way down the rabbit hole. If all of this worked, the universe as we know it might crash, revealing itself as a mirage just as we winked out of existence.

     All in favor signify by saying "aye".

[JBS]

Opens Twitter
Reads Twitter for five minutes
Closes Twitter
Votes "aye"

[MusicTurner]

Stories from Belarus rarely get much attention; the authoritarian society seems static. But about a month ago, some experts predicted that Lukashenko would probably repressively take the upcoming elections on August 9th; however, he'd then begin loosing his power for real. Maybe the predictions are correct; we'll see.

"It's exciting to see the change of Belarus' opposition leadership. After male candidates were kicked out from the race, these brave women took the lead - Maryja Kalesnikava, Vieranika Capkala, and Sviatlana Cichanouskaja. Lukashenka still underestimates their power. He is wrong."

https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1284824702083530753

(...)

Increased signs of the Belarus pyramid cracking - severe, exorbitant police violence, protest manifestations, strikes in some major companies (and from the Belarus Philharmonic), some defectors and disobedience among lower ranks of the police and army, protests from some public figures, including Nobel laureate and a TV propaganda host. Still no major defectors though.

Some have noted that there's been no or very little violence from the protestors' side.