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๐ Mbone โ Multicast over the Internet
Mbone (short for "multicast backbone") was an experimental backbone and virtual network built on top of the Internet for carrying IP multicast traffic on the Internet. It was developed in the early 1990s and required specialized hardware and software. Since the operators of most Internet routers have disabled IP multicast due to concerns regarding bandwidth tracking and billing, the Mbone was created to connect multicast-capable networks over the existing Internet infrastructure.
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- "Mbone โ Multicast over the Internet" | 2015-02-21 | 11 Upvotes 4 Comments
๐ Goiรขnia radiation accident
The Goiรขnia accident [ษกojหjษniษ] was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, in Goiรขnia, in the Brazilian state of Goiรกs, after a forgotten radiotherapy source was taken from an abandoned hospital site in the city. It was subsequently handled by many people, resulting in four deaths. About 112,000 people were examined for radioactive contamination and 249 of them were found to have been contaminated.
In the cleanup operation, topsoil had to be removed from several sites, and several hundred houses were demolished. All the objects from within those houses, including personal possessions, were seized and incinerated. Time magazine has identified the accident as one of the world's "worst nuclear disasters" and the International Atomic Energy Agency called it "one of the world's worst radiological incidents".
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- "Goiรขnia Accident" | 2023-02-01 | 298 Upvotes 185 Comments
- "The Goiรขnia Accident (1987)" | 2021-11-06 | 205 Upvotes 121 Comments
- "Goiรขnia Accident" | 2020-06-27 | 21 Upvotes 2 Comments
- "Goiรขnia radiation accident" | 2013-08-08 | 14 Upvotes 4 Comments
๐ Dialetheism
Dialetheism (from Greek ฮดฮน- di- 'twice' and แผฮปฮฎฮธฮตฮนฮฑ alแธtheia 'truth') is the view that there are statements that are both true and false. More precisely, it is the belief that there can be a true statement whose negation is also true. Such statements are called "true contradictions", dialetheia, or nondualisms.
Dialetheism is not a system of formal logic; instead, it is a thesis about truth that influences the construction of a formal logic, often based on pre-existing systems. Introducing dialetheism has various consequences, depending on the theory into which it is introduced. A common mistake resulting from this is to reject dialetheism on the basis that, in traditional systems of logic (e.g., classical logic and intuitionistic logic), every statement becomes a theorem if a contradiction is true, trivialising such systems when dialetheism is included as an axiom. Other logical systems, however, do not explode in this manner when contradictions are introduced; such contradiction-tolerant systems are known as paraconsistent logics. Dialetheists who do not want to allow that every statement is true are free to favour these over traditional, explosive logics.
Graham Priest defines dialetheism as the view that there are true contradictions. Jc Beall is another advocate; his position differs from Priest's in advocating constructive (methodological) deflationism regarding the truth predicate.
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- "Dialetheism" | 2024-02-07 | 15 Upvotes 4 Comments
๐ Homotopy Type Theory
In mathematical logic and computer science, homotopy type theory (HoTT ) refers to various lines of development of intuitionistic type theory, based on the interpretation of types as objects to which the intuition of (abstract) homotopy theory applies.
This includes, among other lines of work, the construction of homotopical and higher-categorical models for such type theories; the use of type theory as a logic (or internal language) for abstract homotopy theory and higher category theory; the development of mathematics within a type-theoretic foundation (including both previously existing mathematics and new mathematics that homotopical types make possible); and the formalization of each of these in computer proof assistants.
There is a large overlap between the work referred to as homotopy type theory, and as the univalent foundations project. Although neither is precisely delineated, and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, the choice of usage also sometimes corresponds to differences in viewpoint and emphasis. As such, this article may not represent the views of all researchers in the fields equally. This kind of variability is unavoidable when a field is in rapid flux.
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- "Homotopy Type Theory" | 2021-06-22 | 64 Upvotes 22 Comments
๐ Eidophor
An Eidophor was a television projector used to create theater-sized images from an analog video signal. The name Eidophor is derived from the Greek word-roots eido and phor meaning 'image' and 'bearer' (carrier). Its basic technology was the use of electrostatic charges to deform an oil surface.
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- "Eidophor" | 2019-09-21 | 96 Upvotes 13 Comments
๐ Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 38.7 secs
Solar time is a calculation of the passage of time based on the position of the Sun in the sky. The fundamental unit of solar time is the day. Two types of solar time are apparent solar time (sundial time) and mean solar time (clock time).
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- "Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 38.7 secs" | 2013-09-15 | 119 Upvotes 40 Comments
๐ Haversine Formula
The haversine formula determines the great-circle distance between two points on a sphere given their longitudes and latitudes. Important in navigation, it is a special case of a more general formula in spherical trigonometry, the law of haversines, that relates the sides and angles of spherical triangles.
The first table of haversines in English was published by James Andrew in 1805, but Florian Cajori credits an earlier use by Josรฉ de Mendoza y Rรญos in 1801. The term haversine was coined in 1835 by James Inman.
These names follow from the fact that they are customarily written in terms of the haversine function, given by hav(ฮธ) = sin2(ฮธ/2). The formulas could equally be written in terms of any multiple of the haversine, such as the older versine function (twice the haversine). Prior to the advent of computers, the elimination of division and multiplication by factors of two proved convenient enough that tables of haversine values and logarithms were included in nineteenth and early twentieth century navigation and trigonometric texts. These days, the haversine form is also convenient in that it has no coefficient in front of the sin2 function.
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- "Haversine Formula" | 2019-04-12 | 73 Upvotes 31 Comments
๐ 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay was written by Kubrick and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, and was inspired by Clarke's 1951 short story "The Sentinel" and other short stories by Clarke. Clarke also published a novelisation of the film, in part written concurrently with the screenplay, after the film's release. The film stars Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and Douglas Rain, and follows a voyage by astronauts, scientists and the sentient supercomputer HAL to Jupiter to investigate an alien monolith.
The film is noted for its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery. Kubrick avoided conventional cinematic and narrative techniques; dialogue is used sparingly, and there are long sequences accompanied only by music. The soundtrack incorporates numerous works of classical music, by composers including Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss II, Aram Khachaturian, and Gyรถrgy Ligeti.
The film received diverse critical responses, ranging from those who saw it as darkly apocalyptic to those who saw it as an optimistic reappraisal of the hopes of humanity. Critics noted its exploration of themes such as human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning Kubrick the award for his direction of the visual effects. The film is now widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. In 1991, it was selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 2022, 2001: A Space Odyssey placed in the top ten of Sight & Sound's decennial critics' poll, and topped their directors' poll.
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- "2001: A Space Odyssey" | 2023-04-03 | 29 Upvotes 69 Comments
๐ Y Combinator cofounder was convicted under CFAA in 1990
Robert Tappan Morris (born November 8, 1965) is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is best known for creating the Morris worm in 1988, considered the first computer worm on the Internet.
Morris was prosecuted for releasing the worm, and became the first person convicted under the then-new Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He went on to co-found the online store Viaweb, one of the first web-based applications, and later the funding firm Y Combinatorโboth with Paul Graham.
He later joined the faculty in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received tenure in 2006. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019.
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- "Y Combinator cofounder was convicted under CFAA in 1990" | 2013-01-18 | 171 Upvotes 71 Comments
๐ International Committee of the Red Cross rules of engagement for civilian hacker
On 4 October 2023 the International Committee of the Red Cross published rules of engagement for civilian hackers involved in conflicts. The rules had been described as a "Geneva Code of cyber-war".
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- "International Committee of the Red Cross rules of engagement for civilian hacker" | 2024-07-12 | 12 Upvotes 1 Comments