Author: Payam

Chemist, philosopher, vagrant.
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On Data Harvesting: Be Extremely Afraid

Source: Google Bans Location Data Firm Funded by Former Saudi Intelligence Head

A prime example of how easily compromising information may be obtained from SafeGraph is this preprint from Northwestern University and Boston University in which the authors used data from SafeGraph to follow people who attended the Sturgis, South Dakota, motorcycle rally from the rally to their respective home towns and measured whether these rally attendees ended up increasing covid-19 incidence in their home towns. In other words, they attempted to measure the degree to which Sturgis was a national super spreader event, not just a local one. The authors acknowledge SafeGraph for providing the data gratis, and cleverly sidestep the shocking revelation that such data is available for purchase to anyone. Though the data provided to the investigators was anonymous, it is highly likely that SafeGraph can identify every single person in the data set. What SafeGraph knows about the general populace is disturbing.

More disturbing is the revelation that SafeGraph is partly owned and controlled by Saudi interests because it places a digital surveillance apparatus with global reach under the control of a regime that has used such surveillance to intimidate or to kill political dissidents. Though it’s comforting that Google has decided to halt the stream of data it provides to SafeGraph, it is, nevertheless, this outcome must be perceived as a clarion call for action, not an occasion to breathe a sigh of relief. The revelation that even Google–an entity that exists to exploit its users’ data–finds SafeGraph’s business disquieting serves as ample warning that data collection and dissemination need to be regulated. Google’s action against SafeGraph is definitive proof that the dystopian society of total government surveillance is within reach through the overt and willing collusion between government and industry. In Western democracies, the government side of this collusion can be influenced, but willingness among the populace is waning because the cacophony of disinformation blasted by “social media” has drowned out reason. Failure in bringing democratic governments to restrain reprobate companies like NSO Group will empower governments to surveil everyone and to eliminate those who oppose autocratic regimes. This failure invites total chaos. This is, unfortunately, a precipice we may have already crossed.

SafeGraph sells smartphone location data to essentially anyone. Google banned the company in June.

Vice Motherboard

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The FAANG Wars Escalate

The war between Apple and Microsoft on one side, and Amazon, Facebook and Google on the other officially started in September of last year, and they just escalated with Apple’s release of iOS 14.5. Apple’s declaration that it will end app tracking–the practice of allowing the developer of one mobile phone application to be able to use your mobile device to track your activity in other applications you use on the mobile phone and to correlate your activity with your browsing habits on your computer and phone–is a major pillar of the business model of companies like Facebook and Google who collect this information in order to target ads at you specifically.

The practice goes much further, however. Both companies build “psychographical” profiles of users with such tracking information and use these models to control what each user sees. App tracking is thus one of the many elements of control through which Google and Facebook control the total user experience: they tailor the content they place before you in order to elicit the emotional response that will trigger you to click the ads they have included in the content they place before you. This is why, for example, Google is estimated to collect 20 times as much data as Apple does. It sounds sinister, and it is. (In the case of Amazon, this information is used to display search results that will maximize Amazon’s profit on the sale, not the value for the customer.)

Continue reading “The FAANG Wars Escalate”
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Cherry Blossoms and Global Warming

It is astonishing that records of when cherry trees bloom in Japan goes as far back as the ninth century. It is more astonishing that they agree with every other measure of global warming, down to the onset about 200 years ago with the start of the industrial revolution. With this much confidence in the measurement, why is there so much hesitation to act?

Records of the peak of the Japanese cherry tree blooms data back 1200 years, surprisingly, and demonstrate yet again that plant has changed since the start of the industrial revolution.

The early peak is thought to be linked to climate change as spring temperatures rise.

Source: Japan’s cherry blossom ‘earliest peak since 812’

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Pink seesaws at US-Mexico

The elegance with which a symbol of division and incipient racism is shattered by a favorite children’s playground toy is truly staggering. The design award is well earned.

The installation allowed children to play together from both sides of the US-Mexico border.

Source: Pink seesaws at US-Mexico wall win design award – BBC News

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Will American Politics Ever Be Civil Again?

The juxtaposition could not be starker. The Dutch government quit over a scandal comprised of the government accused poor people of theft over welfare funds they had legitimately received. It is hard to imagine any politician in the United States facing any consequences for stiffing poor people for welfare. It is even harder to imagine any member of Congress riding his or her bicycle (see picture below) in public in order to deliver an urgent message to the White House (since we don’t have a king).

Mark Rutte’s cabinet resigns after families were wrongly accused and many faced financial problems.

After the insurrection of January 6, 2020, it is impossible to imagine that any American politician will ever hold a public forum long enough to be shamed for not doing her or his job. This juxtaposition of Dutch civil life with American civil life begs so many depressing questions. Is American civil life doomed to become extinct? How do we regain civility and equanimity in the general American populace? Does any will exist to effect this change? This is one of the toughest times ever to be optimistic.

Source: Dutch Rutte government resigns over child welfare fraud scandal

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Another Historical Survey of Earth’s Atmosphere Rings Alarm Bells

The total lack of attention and imagination with which climate “skeptics”–contrarians, in truth–greet monumental scientific studies that repeatedly demonstrate that grave danger lies ahead must be remedied. The AIP (American Institute of Physics) provides a fairly comprehensive historical review of the discovery of the greenhouse effect, linked in the sidebar to the right. The findings of over a century and a half of scientific research continue to be corroborated by new advanced methods and by re-evaluation of the fossil record, such as the one reported in the article linked below.

Once again, the historical record unambiguously points to a catastrophe on the horizon. In this instance, the reevaluation of the Smithsonian’s fossil record shows that we are hurtling toward another geologic period without polar ice caps. A true skeptic would advocate contingency planning for a catastrophe that has a high probability of occurring, regardless of cause. Unfortunately, our world is impeded by contrarians whose lack of scientific literacy is coupled not with goodwill toward mankind but with short term political ambition. This outcome runs contrary to the political exigency of making long-term solutions for evolving problems. Whether the private sector can sufficiently insure itself against the predictions of global warming is an open question.

Historically, the only reason government exists is that the private sector lacks the resources and the discipline to insure itself against such large-scale catastrophes. Do we want to risk our existence to test the hypothesis that government is no longer needed?

  • Survey of the Smithsonian’s fossil record sheds light on the earth’s temperature fluctuations as far back as 500 million years.

Smithsonian’s revamped fossil hall prompts a look into Earth’s hot past

Source: A 500-million-year survey of Earth’s climate reveals dire warning for humanity | Science | AAAS

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Scientists Calling Bullshit on Misleading Energy Stats

The author of this piece may have been well advised to refrain from making dubious claims in the magazine of the one of the most venerated engineering societies on the planet. Although Vaclav Smil’s bona fides in the area of energy are impressive, his publication of highly dubious statistics remain elusive. He is a researcher firmly entrenched in the petroleum industry. Consequently, he should not have been surprised that the brilliant members of the IEEE would call him out on his veiled and specious defense of the fossil fuel industry.

The best part of the story, however, is the simple fact that academic and professional societies remain great bastions of open and brutally honest discourse. Science and engineering are not for the faint of heart. If you can’t stand having your bullshit called out, then get out of the field. As professor emeritus, Smil may have elected an unceremonious exit. At least, that’s what he seems to indicate in his response to the long list of complaints about his post: out of 10s of comments that point out errors in his analysis, he acknowledges the only one that defends his dubious claims with a bogus link.

Source: Germany’s Energiewende, 20 Years Later – IEEE Spectrum

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iPhone 12 Pro is Apple’s Autonomous Vehicle Computing Platform

One impressive task that Apple showed off in its iPhone 12 announcement was the iPhone 12 Pro’s ability to shoot and edit 4K, HDR video at 60 frames per second (fps). As many tech reviewers have noted, this makes the iPhone 12 Pro faster at this particular task than most top of the line Intel computers, regardless of operating system. This is a fantastic feature to have on a phone, but what percentage of iPhone users will ever want to shoot or edit 4K HDR videos on their iPhone? A very small percentage, one very, very close to zero. The question arises, then, as to why Apple was so insistent on emphasizing two things in this presentation: 1) the astonishing computing power of this device and 2) it’s support for all variants of 5G communication. Apple did this because the iPhone platform is destined for much bigger, bigger tasks than simply performing the mundane tasks that 99.9% of its user base performs. The iPhone is destined to be the mobile computing platform of future devices like autonomous vehicles.

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CoViD-19 Recurrences Temper Hopes for Vaccine Efficacy

Reinfections give scientists clues about how long protection lasts—and how well vaccines might perform

It has been only one year since CoViD-19 was identified as a new, deadly disease. Despite the vast troves of information learned since, the landscape of molecular biology, epidemiology and especially physiology of this disease largely remains terra incognita: large, isolated areas of the landscape have been charted, and the research now focuses on elucidating how they articulate.

Recurrence of COVID-19 in the same patient is one such conundrum. It seems to be a case of incomplete or ephemeral immune response in some patients, and the obvious question arises as to whether immunization will provide a universally strong and persistent enough response to eradicate the disease. Irrational exuberance doesn’t permeate the stock market alone, but, alas, it does serve politicians well.

Source: More people are getting COVID-19 twice, suggesting immunity wanes quickly in some

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On the Value of Immigration

In these dismal times, immigration has become a deplorable political wedge issue exploited by politicians with grand dreams of becoming dictators in order to cow the meekest and most naive in their constituency to total subservience. Toward that end, the demagogues go so far as to identify the immigrants who would “most valuable” or “most compatible” with the fictional native culture they extoll. In this article, there is proof positive that immigration will never be an issue provided the state invests in its people. By investing in its people, every country improves its chances of success in the global marketplace. The success of BioNTech is proof that investing in immigrants and giving them equal opportunity is far more important than choosing the immigrants. Countries that denounce immigration do so quite literally at their own peril.

Source: The Husband-and-Wife Team Behind the Leading Vaccine to Solve Covid-19 – The New York Times