To make something that small requires a level of integration that is not conducive to repair. Using connectors, cases that can somehow open or come apart (but not coming apart too easily so they aren't actually prone to breaking more often), etc, is not something that is practical in the first place.

My grandfather used to repair CBs and amateur radio equipment back in the 70s. Then everything was comprised of discrete components (IE each component, like a transistor, capacitor, diode, etc was a separate thing), and they were soldered onto a circuit board and each component could be replaced. However you would never repair an individual component, like somehow opening a transistor and fixing it internally - you had to replace it. At some level you have that tiniest discrete part that is either good or bad, and gets replaced when it fails.

Then when ICs came into existence, and allowed the insane miniaturization we enjoy today, multiples of those discrete components were packaged together into one "black box" that was impossible to repair. So then instead of replacing an off-the-shelf transistor easily and cheaply, you had to obtain the correct IC, which was proprietary and cost a fortune.

Anyway my point is that incredible miniaturization, which the iPods are certain a pinnacle of and state-of-the-art, come with a price, which is they get engineered as a discrete component that cannot be replaced or repaired.

I'm not defending Apple here, and I don't even own a pair of Airpods. I'm just saying that it's zero surprise that something that tightly integrated and miniaturized can't be repaired.

If we want to talk about habitats changing that affects birds, climate change is absolutely trivial compared to the deforestation that occurred in the late 1800s. The impact that had on birds was incredible. Even now, though large areas of forest lands have grown back, they are not the same kinds of trees, and have forever impacted the bird habitation regions across the US.

So I imagine there were many other new hybridizations that happened then because of human activity, where various species of birds began to overlap that hadn't before.

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Fa...

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.auntminnie.com%2Fima...

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2F...

On and on.

We're not talking about 2025, but the last decade. What's your source and what was the trend over that period of time?

I already commented about this on another story, but AI caused this problem back in 2015-2017 when it was all over the news that AI would begin reading studies. This caused enough of a percentage of med students to specialize in other areas, leading to the big shortage we have now.

As far as AI being used, it is very subtle and minimal. For example our hospital uses iCAD for mammogram imagery, and all it does spit out a marker file that then can be overlaid on top of the images the Radiologists read, showing areas where it identified extra density and the like. These are just little marker icons showing the radiologist an area that they should review in more detail. Very basic, but it does help keep some things from slipping through.

Anyway AI created this problem, and now we're almost to the point we need AI to fix it. But really, like every single other thing in healthcare, it comes down to liability, and who gets sued when a screw-up happens and who is paying the malpractice insurance that covers it. Right now the doctors bear that responsibility, so they are in demand and make the big dollars. AI reading images would decrease their demand and thus their salaries...

The were being used to threaten and swat government officials on both sides of the aisle over the last few years. The Secret Service found them by tracking the SIM numbers that the threats originated from.

The sheer volume of the SIM cards and distribution of the installations indicates there were plans for far more than just anonymous threats to officials, because that volume of devices could easily overload the cell network. .

CNN has a much better article.

CNN has a much better article going into far more detail than the BBC blurb.

The main thing that got these on the radar of the Secret Service was swatting and threatening government officials (both Democrat and Republican) via phone calls and texts from these devices. After several months of tracking the SIMs these calls were originating from, and trying to find their physical locations, they discovered these SIM servers.

The sheer volume of them - 100,000 unique SIM cards housed in 300 servers spread across multiple locations (rented apartment spaces and the like) is way, way more than needed to just harass government officials. That volume of devices could easily overload the cellular network and bring it down.

I'm not a huge fan of what Disney has become, but I'm even less of a fan of lawyers, and this sounds like a douche-bag thing that a law firm is doing just because it's easy for them to do. I hope Disney counters for damages and wins.

LED lights are extremely directional, to the point it can be difficult getting them to diffuse like an incandescent bulb. Most streetlights (and now, lights in sports stadiums, parking lots and the like) are extremely directional, pointing straight down and having abrupt drop-off in illumination around the periphery. In fact, in my town, streetlights that are being replaced with LED are not as good because they don't cover as large of an area or fade out on the edges in a more natural way. They almost look light spotlights shining straight down - objects are either in the light or not at all.

So I guess the light pollution from LEDs is due to light reflecting off the ground? I'm just surprised LEDs haven't decreased light pollution because of how directional they are. They should definitely be decreasing light pollution outside of the visible spectrum, because that was always an issue with the various kinds of lights used in the past for lighting large outdoor areas. A big part of their inefficiency was generating unwanted infrared or ultraviolet as a by-product.

I always hear statements like this thrown around in various contexts, and while on the surface it sounds admirable, it's really not accurate at all.

The most important people on the planet are those with the knowledge, skills and the actual power and means to accomplish what needs to be done. Without the core set of human adults that actually feed our population, keep it safe, fix broken and unhealthy bodies and the like, there would be no children. Or if there were children they would mostly be dying.

Also based on that logic, the instant a "child" becomes an adult sitting in that seat you kept warm for them, they're not important anymore, and the real focus is immediately on people younger than them. Unless there's like a grace period of importance - say you get 5 years of still being most important after you're no longer a child? See what I mean?

Obviously we need children, and we want the human race to continue and all that, and to provide for them a planet better than the one we started with and with more opportunities, but saying kids are the most important people sounds good in a Whitney Houston song, but isn't very realistic.

100% of Americans want the time changes to go away. The problem? 50% think DST should become the permanent time, while the other 50% think it should be non-DST. That's the real problem.

Personally, I'd rather have the extra hour of daylight in the evening. If it's dark in the morning then schools can start an hour later (which some in my region actually did for a week last year).

Either way, if it ever goes permanent, you're going to have half the population unhappy with what became permanent.

I'd watch the live stream if Pauly Shore is part of the crew.

Literally Slashdot not respecting its own moderation system, promoting a post in summary (which is very rare) that has been downvoted to a 1.

I find it amusing when "solar powered X" can still make news headlines, when we've had things like solar powered calculators for 45 years now

Oh and an addendum. That spring has been maintained for the last 100 years, and the owners for the last number of decades have kept the site open to the public in general. All that is left is the spring house (the hotel is long gone), but you can still go fill containers or just drink right out of the flowing water.

If anyone wants a bottle I will ship you one for $40, in the spirit of this Slashdot post.