Crypto-currency craze ‘hinders search for alien life’
I know which is a stupider waste of energy. It's true that computers often idle a lot, but it still takes more energy to run a processor then to have it in a lower-power mode.
Technology
It’s A Beautiful 50th Birthday For ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’
Lead Battery Recycling
99% of lead that is used for batteries is recycled.
February 15, 2018 10:42 pm Update
I changed one line of code from pinMode(pirSensor, INPUT) to pinMode(pirSensor, INPUT_PULLUP) activating the internal pull up resistor on AtMega328 chip, making the PIR sensor properly turn on and off. Well that was easy.
Spent a lot of time scratching my head over it. Sure beats having to solder another doggone pull up resistor. Now the lights shut off when I leave my bedroom saving energy.
The Waste Makers by Vance Packard
The year 1960 is nearly 60 years ago now. Is something written that long ago still relevant? I would argue more so today then when Vance Packard wrote his most popular book decades ago.
Facebook Launches “Donate” Button For Non-Profits That Also Collects Billing Info For Itself
I've wondered why Facebook is so aggressive at promoting it's donation program. While Facebook does not charge anything for donations to chartiable contributions, they do keep your credit card to make it easier to solicit you later on for ad sales and game add-ons. They are big, so they have good terms with credit card companies, so they get a low rate, so the transaction to cheriable organization doesn't cost them much.
He Predicted The 2016 Fake News Crisis. Now He’s Worried About An Information Apocalypse.
"Still, Ovadya and others warn that the next few years could be rocky. Despite some pledges for reform, he feels the platforms are still governed by the wrong, sensationalist incentives, where clickbait and lower-quality content is rewarded with more attention. "That's a hard nut to crack in general, and when you combine it with a system like Facebook, which is a content accelerator, it becomes very dangerous."