skybrian's recent activity
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Comment on China calls for ‘concerted’ efforts to tackle excess solar production in ~enviro
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China calls for ‘concerted’ efforts to tackle excess solar production
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Comment on The US Chief Justice and his wife took $20 million from firms he rules on. I'm filing for his disbarment today. in ~society
skybrian LinkFrom 2023: At the Supreme Court, Ethics Questions Over a Spouse’s Business Ties (New York Times): ... ...From 2023: At the Supreme Court, Ethics Questions Over a Spouse’s Business Ties (New York Times):
After Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the Supreme Court, his wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, gave up her career as a law firm partner to become a high-end legal recruiter in an effort to alleviate potential conflicts of interest. Mrs. Roberts later recalled in an interview that her husband’s job made it “awkward to be practicing law in the firm.”
Now, a former colleague of Mrs. Roberts has raised concerns that her recruiting work poses potential ethics issues for the chief justice. Seeking an inquiry, the ex-colleague has provided records to the Justice Department and Congress indicating Mrs. Roberts has been paid millions of dollars in commissions for placing lawyers at firms — some of which have business before the Supreme Court, according to a letter obtained by The New York Times.
In his letter last month, Kendal Price, a 66-year-old Boston lawyer, argued that the justices should be required to disclose more information about their spouses’ work. He did not cite specific Supreme Court decisions, but said he was worried that a financial relationship with law firms arguing before the court could affect justices’ impartiality or at least give the appearance of doing so.
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In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Supreme Court, Patricia McCabe, said that all the justices were “attentive to ethical constraints” and complied with financial disclosure laws. The chief justice and his wife had also consulted the code of conduct for federal judges, Ms. McCabe said, including a 2009 advisory opinion that a judge “need not recuse merely because” his or her spouse had worked as a recruiter for a law firm with issues before the court.
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An ethics opinion by Bennett L. Gershman, a Pace University law professor and former Manhattan prosecutor, accompanied the letter and said “it is plausible that the Chief Justice’s spouse may have leveraged the ‘prestige of the judicial office’” to “raise their household income.” He added that those concerns, coupled with what he described as the chief justice’s lack of disclosure of potential conflicts, “threaten the public’s trust in the federal judiciary, and the Supreme Court itself.”
But another ethics expert, Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia, said in an interview that Chief Justice Roberts appeared to have met his disclosure obligations. Ms. Frost said that judicial spouses should be able to have their own careers and that the chief justice would not need to recuse himself based on the nature of his wife’s work.
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Comment on Chat Jimmy - A nearly instantaneous AI chatbot in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentI'm not going to even try this one, but their planned releases seem promising.Our second model, still based on Taalas’ first-generation silicon platform (HC1), will be a mid-sized reasoning LLM. It is expected in our labs this spring and will be integrated into our inference service shortly thereafter.
Following this, a frontier LLM will be fabricated using our second-generation silicon platform (HC2). HC2 offers considerably higher density and even faster execution. Deployment is planned for winter.
I'm not going to even try this one, but their planned releases seem promising.
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Comment on Adults are earning college degrees online in weeks, alarming US educators in ~society
skybrian Link ParentIf you arrange so it's not possible to score much higher then that's less of an issue. Compare with qualifying for a driver's license. The goal isn't to find the most skilled drivers, so the...If you arrange so it's not possible to score much higher then that's less of an issue.
Compare with qualifying for a driver's license. The goal isn't to find the most skilled drivers, so the testing isn't designed to do that.
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Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life
skybrian (edited )Link ParentThat's a bit of an exaggeration. There are parts of Mountain View that are all apartment buildings, and a lot of new construction of five-over-ones in San Mateo and Sunnyvale.That's a bit of an exaggeration. There are parts of Mountain View that are all apartment buildings, and a lot of new construction of five-over-ones in San Mateo and Sunnyvale.
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Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life
skybrian Link ParentThe opposite of shrinkflation is only selling large quantities, so people have to buy more than they need and the rest goes to waste. Restaurants often do that, with "generous" portions to justify...The opposite of shrinkflation is only selling large quantities, so people have to buy more than they need and the rest goes to waste. Restaurants often do that, with "generous" portions to justify higher prices.
You don't benefit from shopping at Costco unless you're buying something where you will actually use it all before it goes bad. (Though, sometimes you can split the purchase with a friend.)
In this case, it's true that renters are getting less housing, but for someone who just needs a bed and would rather save money, that's the right amount of housing for them. The decline of SRO's is part of what lead to the housing crisis.
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Comment on The gravest threat to the American press in ~society
skybrian LinkMaybe so, but it would be more convincing if the author had actually made an argument about why that's true, rather than just using the word "arguably."Such acquiescence to the dictates of official secrecy arguably does far greater harm to the press than anything that might happen to Harp.
Maybe so, but it would be more convincing if the author had actually made an argument about why that's true, rather than just using the word "arguably."
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Comment on Adults are earning college degrees online in weeks, alarming US educators in ~society
skybrian (edited )Link ParentSetting a reasonable, fair standard and then picking randomly is the best thing I can come up with for that scenario. It would save a lot of time studying for the Big Exam if it's not unreasonably...Setting a reasonable, fair standard and then picking randomly is the best thing I can come up with for that scenario.
It would save a lot of time studying for the Big Exam if it's not unreasonably hard to ace it. Also, the people chosen know they got lucky (so don't let it go to your head) and the people who passed the exam and didn't get picked have some consolation in knowing that it's not their fault.
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Comment on Adults are earning college degrees online in weeks, alarming US educators in ~society
skybrian Link ParentWho would go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt to get a "well-rounded education" if it were just for personal growth and not to get a job so you can pay it back? People who don't end up...Who would go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt to get a "well-rounded education" if it were just for personal growth and not to get a job so you can pay it back? People who don't end up with good jobs after graduating have good reason to dissatisfied. They got a bad deal, no matter how "well-rounded" they are in other respects.
Personal growth is great, but it doesn't pay the bills and the amount you pay for it should be limited.
Colleges get away with charging high prices with a sort of motte-and-bailey argument where sometimes it's about careers and sometimes it's about personal growth. It's a cross-subsidy. If you could get a good job by passing an exam and skipping the classes then this scheme would fall apart, much like happened to newspapers after Craigslist and eBay took away the classified ad business.
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Comment on How AI prevents meritocracy in ~tech
skybrian LinkThe interview is mostly not about meritocracy; it’s a general discussion of privacy issues with AI. In particular, there’s a discussion of health insurance, and it’s not clear what a “meritocracy”...The interview is mostly not about meritocracy; it’s a general discussion of privacy issues with AI. In particular, there’s a discussion of health insurance, and it’s not clear what a “meritocracy” for health insurance would mean when the whole point is to pool risks.
Discounts for non-smokers or for exercising, maybe? Much of the risk has nothing to do with that.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
skybrian LinkStill working on my personal link-sharing website off and on. I’ve imported all the links I ever posted to Tildes, but they’re not published yet. That’s currently a manual review since I tag...Still working on my personal link-sharing website off and on. I’ve imported all the links I ever posted to Tildes, but they’re not published yet. That’s currently a manual review since I tag things differently from Tildes.
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Comment on The zero-days are numbered — Firefox team uses AI to find and fix vulnerabilities in ~tech
skybrian (edited )Link ParentI think it only becomes unlikely for widely used libraries. Sure, most people using a dependency might be careless, but there will be a few companies that are more cautious and decide to spend the...I think it only becomes unlikely for widely used libraries. Sure, most people using a dependency might be careless, but there will be a few companies that are more cautious and decide to spend the money on automated security reviews. For a company, this is considerably cheaper than paying staff to do it.
Nowadays people are talking about using dependency cooldowns rather than upgrading dependencies right away. That’s waiting for someone else to hopefully discover any bugs.
Rather than leaving that to chance, it might be nice if there were a way to publish information about what security reviews have been done on a library version. Then you could wait until there have been multiple outside reviews vouching for a new version.
It would be a more useful signal than the number of downloads or the number of stars on GitHub.
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Comment on Adults are earning college degrees online in weeks, alarming US educators in ~society
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...]From the article:
Many U.S. schools have been experimenting with ways to speed up traditional college programs to reduce the burgeoning cost and help students move into the workforce faster. Some offer three-year bachelor’s programs, reducing the number of credits needed for a diploma by one quarter. Many more allow students to enroll in college classes while still in high school.
But the breakneck pace of the fastest online programs concerns some academics, who say there is a big difference in what students can learn in weeks or months compared with three or more years.
The phenomenon — sometimes referred to as degree hacking, college speed runs or hyper-accelerated degrees — has spawned a cottage industry of influencers making videos about how quickly they earned their degrees and encouraging others to follow suit.
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The University of Maine’s Presque Isle campus has more than 3,000 students in its online YourPace program, according to the school. The school’s president said the program is designed to help older, nontraditional students rapidly obtain an affordable degree they may need for a raise, promotion or new job — students who don’t need the traditional longer college experience on campus that many young adults crave.
“They literally just need a certificate” to help their careers, said Raymond Rice, president of the Presque Isle campus. He said the program is open only to students age 20 and older, in part to avoid competing with its traditional four-year program on campus.
Of the nearly 300 students who earned a bachelor’s in the YourPace program in fall 2024, the vast majority finished in less than a year. More than 1 in 4 finished their entire degree course load in a single eight-week session, half the length of a traditional academic semester.
Under a system known as competency-based education, students typically must finish several assignments or pass a test to prove they learned the material, regardless of how long it takes. In a philosophy class Rice oversees, students have to show they learned the online material by completing five five-page essays and one longer paper that’s up to 10 pages.
There are no class meetings. No group discussions. No weekly assignments. Nothing to slow students down.
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At some schools, students can sign up for as many classes as they want for a flat price per term.
For instance, the YourPace program in Maine charges $1,800 per eight-week session for undergraduate programs and $2,450 for graduate degrees. That gives students a powerful financial incentive to push through the programs as quickly as possible to limit the cost and avoid taking out significant student loans. And low-income undergraduate students may be eligible for Federal Pell Grants that help cover the cost.
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The head of the New England Commission of Higher Education, which oversees the accreditation of the University of Maine system, told The Washington Post that he had never heard of students completing a bachelor’s degree in only a few months — either at the Presque Isle campus or any other accredited university. He said that is something his organization may decide to investigate.
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Adults are earning college degrees online in weeks, alarming US educators
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Comment on Guinea worm disease reaches all-time low: only ten human cases reported in 2025 in ~health
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...]From the article:
Only 10 human cases of Guinea worm were reported worldwide in 2025, the lowest number ever recorded, bringing the ancient disease closer than ever to eradication. The Carter Center announced the historic provisional figure following the one-year anniversary of the passing of the Center’s founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
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Poised to be only the second human disease eradicated after smallpox, the 10 Guinea worm cases mark a 33% decline from the 15 cases reported in 2024.
When The Carter Center assumed leadership of the global Guinea worm eradication campaign in 1986, an estimated 3.5 million human cases occurred annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.
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In 2025, two of the 10 provisional human Guinea worm cases were detected in South Sudan and four each in Chad and Ethiopia. Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Mali reported zero human cases for the second consecutive year.
The worms that infect animals are the same species (Dracunculus medinensis) as those that infect humans; therefore, eradication requires stopping infections in both. Once the global epicenter for Guinea worm animal infections, Chad reduced Guinea worm infections in domestic animals by 47%, its sixth consecutive year of progress. In 2025, Chad reported infections in 147 animals, Mali reported 17, Cameroon 445, Angola 70, Ethiopia one, and South Sudan three. Despite reductions in four countries, the global provisional total for animal infections rose slightly, driven by increases in Cameroon and Angola.
As in past years, people in endemic countries received cash rewards for reporting cases of Guinea worm in 2025. Health workers then delivered targeted health education and investigated every report, a system that is essential for detecting remaining cases. In 2025, national programs collectively investigated more than 1 million such rumors, nearly all within 24 hours of notification.
All human and animal Guinea worm figures remain provisional until officially confirmed by each country at the eradication campaign’s global annual meeting, typically held in April.
For a disease to be declared eradicated, every country in the world must be certified free of human and animal infections, even in those where transmission has never been known to occur. To date, the World Health Organization has certified 200 countries free of Guinea worm; only six have not been certified.
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Recent innovations include the development of a diagnostic test that can be used for disease surveillance amongst dogs. This tool, combined with enhanced community-based surveillance, can provide national programs additional information to guide evidence-based decision making and further target program interventions.
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Guinea worm disease reaches all-time low: only ten human cases reported in 2025
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Comment on San Diego rents declined following surge in supply in ~finance
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...] [...]From the article:
The median rent for a 1- and 2-bedroom apartment in San Diego declined by 5.6% and 7.5%, respectively.
The report found that there was about a 15% increase in active listings in San Diego over that timeframe, according to Crystal Chen from Zumper.
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Of the top 20 most expensive rental markets, only New Haven, Conn., saw a sharper decline in 1-bedroom rents. Miami and New Haven both saw larger decreases in median rents for a 2-bedroom apartment.
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“I think if you track the city of San Diego over the last couple of years, we've shown a pretty significant increase in the number of new housing permits each year, we’re closing in on the 10,000 mark for the last two years,” Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee said. “And I think that's really a collective effort between the mayor's office, a supportive council, and our planning and development services department that are trying to find, really all the tools in which they can help to ensure that new housing is happening in San Diego.”
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KPBS reported last year that rents in San Diego increase slower where lots of homes are permitted; the Zumper report continues to indicate that adding to the supply of available homes on the market helps keep rents from increasing, and can even contribute to decreases.
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San Diego sits at the 11th most expensive rental market in the nation, according to the report, with the median rent for a 1-bedroom at $2,200. Median rent for 2-bedroom apartments is $2,950.
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San Diego rents declined following surge in supply
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Comment on The zero-days are numbered — Firefox team uses AI to find and fix vulnerabilities in ~tech
skybrian (edited )Link ParentIt seems pretty unlikely that a simple bug like log4shell would happen again in a world with widespread AI-driven security reviews? People often skip reviewing their open source dependencies...It seems pretty unlikely that a simple bug like log4shell would happen again in a world with widespread AI-driven security reviews? People often skip reviewing their open source dependencies themselves (it's too much work) but I'd guess that a lot of companies will start to do their own automated checking of them? These common dependencies are likely to get a lot more review.
From the article:
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