Ramble #69
Hi Team,
Welcome to the latest edition of Ramble, a compilation of what I have been pondering, learning and enjoying for the past week or so.
Now, grab a beverage and let’s begin.
Something Interesting:
Twitter can be a cesspit, but every so often you can find something awesome, like this:
As a summary:
- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) runs as a non-profit out of LA and is a group of nerds that safeguard the databases that stabilise the internet.
- Whenever you search for a website (an IP adress), your computer asks for the information from servers, who ask other servers, until the information is available to your computer and you can connect.
- This information has to be verified by higher and higher authorities of 'keys' that end at ICANN - so that IP addresses point to the right place, people can't just change information on random websites etc.
- ICANN's 'key' that is at the end of the line of verification is called the 'trust anchor'.
- The numbers in this key are stored on hard drives that are kept in physical boxes. Four of them, spread across a couple of ICANN locations in the United States.
- To get through the excessive amount of secutiry that protects these boxes, you need a physical, 'able-to-open-a-real-life-door' key. Five of them actually.
- And there are seven in existence - held by seven actual real people around the world.
- If five of them showed up at one of those secure locations and did a bit of a key ceremony, they could effectively shut down the internet by removing the trust anchor from the chain of verification that allows the internet to function.
- It is legitimate cool movie-level stuff.
What I am Reading:
This is one of those stories that really piques my interest around all things in that corner of medico-legal-ethics.
"Prosecutor Edward Coker told the court the men had both "sought out" King to perform the surgeries, and they had been carried out, filmed, and uploaded online with their full consent."
"What followed was one of the most remarkable episodes in health-care history: in six-hour shifts, medical and dental students from the University of Copenhagen sat at the bedside of every person with paralysis and ventilated them by hand. The students squeezed a bag connected to the trachaeostomy tube, forcing air into the lungs. They were instructed in how many breaths to administer each minute, and sat there hour after hour. This went on for weeks, and then months, with hundreds of students rotating on and off. By mid-September, the mortality for patients with polio who had respiratory failure had dropped to 31%. It is estimated that the heroic scheme saved 120 people."
"The man reported that the bear had returned to his camp and harassed him every night for a week straight..."
"...the bear had dragged the man down to the river at some point."
Certainly an interesting read.
What I am Watching:
A mother-in-law meets a nuclear scientist:
Travel:
Nope, no travel yet. But how about a comparison of per capita electricity from fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables:
This chart is interactive and dynamic. And it highlights some interestingness.
For example, the whole "nuclear power is dangerous" thing really needs to be put to bed given France generates 67% of her electricity that way. There is a notable lack of headlines reading "Another nuclear meltdown shakes struggling European state of France"...
Another - Australia, where is your nuclear power?
Then when you switch the chart from 'relative' to 'gross' electricity generation:
A couple of things: Australia, what is going on with the fossil fuel thing and; Sweden, what ungodly renewable energy source have you harnessed?
Anyway, it is interesting to play with. And the whole Our World In Data site is fantastic. With gems like this (it can be 'played' to watch a country make progress down and right):
A Quote:
On Questions:
"The riddle does not exist. If a question can be put at all, then it can also be answered."
- Ludwig Wittgnstein
On Curiosity:
"Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas."
- Marie Curie
Recently in History:
July 27, 1953 - War ends in Korea.
July 28, 1586 (ish) - Potatoes are introduced to Ireland from South America.
July 29, 1588 - The Spanish Armada is sighted off Cornwall. Sir Francis Drake simply had to finish his game of bowls before heading to the fleet assembly point at Portsmouth.
August 1, 1976 - Niki Lauda is engulfed in flames after a crash in the German Grand Prix.
August 2, 1990 - Saddam Hussein's Iraq invades Kuwait.
Closing Thoughts:
Thank you once again for reading along with me.
If you found something you liked, let me know.
If you think I can do something a little smoother, please let me know.
Talk soon.
Luke.