skybrian's recent activity
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Comment on Mystery of sixty-second fluctuations in power grids solved in ~science
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Comment on The American suburbs are better than you think in ~life
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...] [...]From the article:
Again and again, I hear urbanists declare that the suburbs are lonely and isolating. It certainly sounds logical. In a city, you’re walking past other people constantly — on the street, on the train, in cafes and restaurants. In suburbia, you’re shut at home inside your giant house or alone in the metal shell of your car. How could suburbia not be more lonely than the big city?
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Why doesn’t the simple intuition work here? Probably because people aren’t just like particles bouncing around in a chemistry experiment — they don’t simply form human connections and bonds just because they happen to walk past each other. A few relationships form from random urban conversations, but most form through work, or friends-of-friends, or shared hobbies, etc.
And while meeting a ton of new people is fun, what really gets rid of loneliness is repeated interaction with people you know and care about. Imagine going to ten parties filled with strangers versus having two close friends over for dinner. Which of those is more likely to leave you feeling lonely? What about 100 Hinge dates versus having a relationship? Remember that Japan has the world’s best cities, but struggles with widespread loneliness.
In fact, suburbs have some features that make it easier to interact with the people you really care about. Those big houses aren’t just for walking around all alone and going “Wow my house is so huge”. They’re for entertaining guests. It’s harder to have a dinner party or a TV night or a game night at a tiny little Manhattan apartment than at a big suburban McMansion. Cars help too; those short travel times make it easier to just pop over and hang.
This doesn’t mean cities are socially inferior to suburbs. Constantly meeting new people is exciting. There’s more fun stuff to go out and do with your friends in a city — restaurants, parties, and so on. It’s just a different lifestyle.
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Why are Millennials moving out? Part of it — the part that urbanists and YIMBYs will emphasize — is that they’re being pushed out by higher rents, which are a result of cities failing to build more housing. But that’s not the whole story. Millennials are also being pulled to the suburbs, because suburbs are generally better for raising kids.
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Anyone with kids can easily rattle off the reasons why suburbs make it easier to raise kids. A big house means more room for kids to have their own bedrooms, space to play, and a back yard to run around in safety. A car makes it a lot easier to ferry kids around to school, or soccer practice, or wherever. Cars also make it much easier to do large grocery shopping trips — try taking a week’s worth of food for a family of four home from the store on foot or on a bike and you’ll quickly understand.
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But it’s simply a mistake to frame the question of urban form as “Which is better, cities or suburbs?”. The answer is that they’re good for different things, and they appeal to different sets of people. Instead of fighting flame wars over whether the whole country should look like Manhattan or the Inland Empire, we should aim for a country that has room for everyone. We should build great city centers for the same reason we should build great suburbs — because Americans deserve to have great places to live, no matter what kind of place they want to live in.
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The American suburbs are better than you think
18 votes -
Comment on Mystery of sixty-second fluctuations in power grids solved in ~science
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...]From the article:
Tennet Germany, the largest transmission system operator in Germany, has observed over several years that the frequency in the European power grid dips briefly every 60 seconds. While these deviations were not critical to grid security, they were clearly measurable and unusually regular. The cause of this phenomenon was initially unclear.
A team from Jülich led by Dirk Witthaut, together with researchers from the University of Cologne and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, set out to investigate – and found the answer: the cause appears to be the many large-scale battery storage systems that check their state of charge every minute. This leads to measurable fluctuations in electricity consumption, which can contribute to turbine wear and tear, for example. The battery storage systems ensure an uninterrupted power supply, and their numbers have increased significantly worldwide in recent years. The researchers found that this was not a European phenomenon, but a global one.
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“It quickly became clear to us that the cause must be something controlled by the clock,” says Witthaut. There was no other way to explain the precise 60-second cycle. It was also clear that: “The observed effect can only be produced if many devices are consuming electricity at the same time.” A single consumer or generator could therefore be ruled out.
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But how do all these devices synchronize their consumption? The researchers finally found the crucial clues with the help of the Living Lab Energy Campus. This research infrastructure on the Jülich campus is primarily used to develop and test highly integrated energy supply systems. The team installed measuring points on end devices at a total of 80 locations – and sure enough, the same periodic pattern in electricity consumption was observed precisely at the locations where large-scale battery storage systems are designed to ensure an uninterrupted power supply. “We took a closer look at one of them and found a spike in electricity consumption at the start of every minute due to the power check,” explains Witthaut.
As there are no binding standards for such power checks, Witthaut suspects that most battery manufacturers assumed that a 60-second interval would be sensible. The start of every minute was simply chosen as the test time. “It is entirely possible, however, that battery storage systems are only part of the problem here,” says Witthaut. “It cannot be ruled out that other digitally controlled appliances – such as air-conditioning systems, heat pumps, washing machines, and dishwashers – may also exhibit similar patterns.”
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Mystery of sixty-second fluctuations in power grids solved
18 votes -
Comment on Any tips for improving personal cybersecurity in 2026? (I'm concerned about rogue AI agents) in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentYeah, it’s still just getting started, but for example, I’ve seen it at a brokerage, an insurance company, and a health care provider, so it seems to be spreading beyond tech companies. Strong,...Yeah, it’s still just getting started, but for example, I’ve seen it at a brokerage, an insurance company, and a health care provider, so it seems to be spreading beyond tech companies.
Strong, random passwords in a password manager are almost as good.
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Comment on Binance suspends withdrawals after crypto hackers steal $6.3 billion in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentIf you’re just investing, maybe an buy an ETF, or even split it between multiple ETFs, through a traditional brokerage? Or better, choose other investments. I guess that applies to exchanges. You...If you’re just investing, maybe an buy an ETF, or even split it between multiple ETFs, through a traditional brokerage? Or better, choose other investments.
I guess that applies to exchanges. You could use more than one.
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Comment on Any tips for improving personal cybersecurity in 2026? (I'm concerned about rogue AI agents) in ~tech
skybrian LinkI’m not going to make a comprehensive guide, but here are a few tips: For important websites that support them, I recommend starting to use passkeys to log in. They aren’t always easy to use in...I’m not going to make a comprehensive guide, but here are a few tips:
For important websites that support them, I recommend starting to use passkeys to log in. They aren’t always easy to use in every way, but they’re convenient and do avoid phishing attacks.
As with any kind of authentication, you will want another way to log in to avoid getting locked out, for example if your phone breaks. As an example, for some websites, I have separate passkeys saved for Apple (using an iPad) and Chrome (phone and laptop). You need to test logging in both ways to be sure they work. Printing out backup codes that you could use to log in can be a good idea, but they won’t help if they’re not with you while traveling.
Look for ways to avoid being too dependent on any one service. For example, it might be good to have money in more than one bank or credit union. I have been affected by a credit union being hacked and no money was lost, but they were offline for a while and that would have been inconvenient if we depended on them.
Learning to make offline backups regularly could be useful, but you also need to test restoring from backup. The best backup is something you use regularly, so you’re testing it and remember how it works.
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Comment on Any tips for improving personal cybersecurity in 2026? (I'm concerned about rogue AI agents) in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentThe problem is mostly not AI doing anything on its own, but hackers can use AI to find and exploit security holes and that’s just as bad. I am half-expecting swarms of AI worms in coming years,...The problem is mostly not AI doing anything on its own, but hackers can use AI to find and exploit security holes and that’s just as bad.
I am half-expecting swarms of AI worms in coming years, though. They don’t have to be smart in every way to be a threat.
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Comment on Google receives response from Project Suncatcher prototype satellite in space in ~space
skybrian Link ParentI couldn’t really say in this case, but Google has done a lot of R&D apparently because the founders thought it was cool.I couldn’t really say in this case, but Google has done a lot of R&D apparently because the founders thought it was cool.
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Comment on Google receives response from Project Suncatcher prototype satellite in space in ~space
skybrian LinkMore info in this article: Google Takes the A.I. Data Center Race to Outer Space: ...More info in this article: Google Takes the A.I. Data Center Race to Outer Space:
MVP contains four specialized computer chips called “tensor processing units,” which have the computing power of one server in a data center. The satellite’s solar panels will supply only about one kilowatt of power — roughly the amount needed to run a hair dryer — to the chips.
But that will be enough for Google to test its hardware against the harsh conditions of space. The satellite will answer simple A.I. queries and operate for a year, though it is set to circle Earth for up to six years. Eventually, it is expected to succumb to Earth’s gravitational pull and burn up as it descends through the atmosphere.
Mr. Manyika said Google’s expectations for the satellite were tempered.
“We don’t expect, to be perfectly frank, that we’ll have anything usefully operational in the next few years,” he said, comparing the mission to the company’s early efforts to build driverless cars. “Remember how Google was researching for like 15 years, before anything showed up? I think this is going to look like that.”
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Planet Labs agreed to launch two satellites for Google in 2027. But the internet giant soon said it wanted to be up in orbit this year and was willing to take on risks to meet that timeline, said Eric Stevens, a director of systems engineering at Planet Labs. To speed up, Google installed its chips into a ready-made Planet Labs satellite and began testing it.
The biggest challenge was how to cool the A.I. chips, which heat up when they perform calculations and process information. Fans, which typically help dissipate the heat, do not work in space. So the Silicon Valley company instead developed a cooling system that uses layers of conductive material to expel the heat into space.
The bottom layer is made up of Google’s A.I. chips, which sit on a green motherboard. The next layer consists of “thermal interface material,” a pale green putty that comes in sheets like Fruit Roll-Ups and connects the chips to layers of aluminum and copper, radiating heat away from the motherboard. Finally, there is a radiator panel, which projects heat into space.
The chips can operate for about 15 minutes in space before needing to be shut down so they can cool off, said Travis Beals, Google’s senior director of product management for Project Suncatcher. During that time, the chips can process short queries so Google’s A.I., known as Gemini, can respond.
Google is already looking ahead. Next year, it plans to launch a pair of satellites. It also has designs for fleets of more than 80 satellites that will fly in close formation and communicate with one another as they process A.I. queries. And Google is meeting with designers to potentially build a custom satellite the length of a soccer field.
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Comment on Finland launches criminal investigation into Google's clearing of forest for data centre site in ~enviro
skybrian Link ParentI think something must have gone wrong with that calculation? 330 hectares is 3.3 square kilometers. Taking the figure from the latest year, 3.3/1551 is 0.2%. Though it might still be a lot to do...I think something must have gone wrong with that calculation? 330 hectares is 3.3 square kilometers. Taking the figure from the latest year, 3.3/1551 is 0.2%.
Though it might still be a lot to do in one place.
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Comment on Halloween night! in ~talk
skybrian LinkI 3D printed a Daft Punk helmet for a party, which is not very practical as costumes go, but was fun to make. Though it was a bit stressful since I was travelling and started with only a week to...I 3D printed a Daft Punk helmet for a party, which is not very practical as costumes go, but was fun to make. Though it was a bit stressful since I was travelling and started with only a week to go, designing parts as I go. By the end, I had to get each part right on the first print and didn't get it done until the morning of the party.
Today we're giving out Halloween candy. It's pretty chill. We got maybe a dozen kids so far. There are elaborately decorated houses a few blocks away that I'm sure get a lot more.
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Comment on Finland launches criminal investigation into Google's clearing of forest for data centre site in ~enviro
skybrian (edited )LinkI wanted to know a little more about the Finnish forest industry so I made a graph. Apparently over 1000 square kilometers of forest are clear-cut each year. Perhaps not that much in one place,...I wanted to know a little more about the Finnish forest industry so I made a graph. Apparently over 1000 square kilometers of forest are clear-cut each year. Perhaps not that much in one place, though?
More could be done. ChatGPT tells me that it should be possible to find the largest clear-cut areas using open GIS data.
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Comment on Binance suspends withdrawals after crypto hackers steal $6.3 billion in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentI don't get what you mean. Was any claim was made that they are exclusive?I don't get what you mean. Was any claim was made that they are exclusive?
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Comment on Linux kernel TCP flaw affects Ubuntu, Red Hat and other distributions in ~comp
skybrian LinkFrom a Hacker News comment:From a Hacker News comment:
Exploitability over the internet is unlikely, most ISP routers drop packets with IP options fields.
Successful exploit requires multiple CPU cores to process packets, so systems with just a single core or packet processing pinned to a single core are not affected.
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Comment on Google receives response from Project Suncatcher prototype satellite in space in ~space
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...]From the article:
On October 1, we launched our prototype satellite for Project Suncatcher. The launch marked the first step in our long-term research moonshot to explore powering AI compute in space. Since then, we've spent the last few weeks completing our commissioning checklist, which included powering up the host and TPU trays and successfully running early machine learning tests. This week, we reached our "Hello World" milestone: the first-ever AI response from a data center class TPU in orbit.
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Following this initial output, we tested space-themed limericks and telemetry prompts reporting the technical status of the payload systems. Next, we will continue with a series of tests to evaluate how TPUs perform under thermal stress and radiation exposure in orbit. Verifying our TPUs can reliably execute workloads in space paves the way for our next milestone of twin interconnected satellites in 2027.
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Google receives response from Project Suncatcher prototype satellite in space
13 votes -
Comment on Linux kernel TCP flaw affects Ubuntu, Red Hat and other distributions in ~comp
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...] [...]From the article:
A flaw in the Linux kernel's TCP code, tracked as CVE-2026-98432, affects Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and other Linux distributions. The kernel's own CVE team rates it 9.8 out of 10 on the CVSS scale.
Anthropic said on October 27 that its AI model wrote an exploit that uses the flaw to let a remote attacker with no credentials run commands as root on Linux servers with a multipath TCP listener.
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The flaw is a race condition in the code that sets up new IPv4 TCP connections. It can make the kernel read memory it has already freed, a bug type known as a use-after-free.
The kernel fix credits Anthropic researcher Xinyang Ge with reporting the bug. Neither the CVE record nor the fix mentions multipath TCP (MPTCP). The link between that feature and this bug comes from Anthropic's post.
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Anthropic's post says the flaw "was patched upstream and backported to all maintained stable kernel branches." For distribution users, that fix arrives only in the vendor's kernel package. Debian, Oracle Linux, SUSE, and Amazon Linux have shipped fixed packages, at least for some of their kernels, but Ubuntu and RHEL have not.
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The kernel's CVE team added the 9.8 score to the CVE record on October 24, nine days after publishing the CVE.
Its score assumes an attacker who sends a TCP connection request carrying IPv4 Record Route or Timestamp options, then resends the request to try to win the race. The team rated attack complexity low, saying both sides of the race are "attacker-induced."
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Red Hat's CVE page rates the flaw Moderate, scoring it 5.9 because the race is hard to win. It says the most likely result is a kernel crash, with memory corruption possible in theory, and that "no confidentiality or integrity impact has been demonstrated."
Red Hat's machine-readable advisory file, updated on October 29, lists the impact as Important and scores the flaw 8.1, with high confidentiality and integrity impact. Red Hat's bug tracker changed the issue's severity from medium to high the same day. On that day, the CVE page showed Moderate and 5.9.
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Linux kernel TCP flaw affects Ubuntu, Red Hat and other distributions
14 votes
Yep, pretty much. Wait a random amount of time before starting the loop, and also don’t wait exactly 60 seconds between checks.