Very heavy-handed paywall. Only let me read one sentence. Linky please?
EDIT: I worry about gen AI but I also worry that Fortune Magazine and exploitative click baiters will try to capitalize on my worry and fears. I need to read the full article. If you don't have the means to provide access, I can get it myself. Thank you for posting this; I didn't mean to be demanding.
More seriously now, the Zurich researchers were very creepy. I'm reading the article further and saw that they stalked some of the past history of redditors first before trying to influence them in r/change my views or whatever it is called.
I wouldn't want to be a guinea pig for that purpose.
Bot farms rule the web. Bot-authored comments are everywhere, no less than 50%, regardless of site. Keep in mind, human-assisted bots have been used for the past 20 years but now the bots are a lot more productive thus the human part is largely quality control.
Fretting at the rare researchers who admit to their bot activity is like fretting at the criminals who admit guilt and praising those who don't.
Seems more likely to me. Reddit has a far broader userbase, whereas HN is primarily made up of the sort of people who would post with AI. And HN has a non rate-limited API (even though most people here probably use Algolia.)
And people already do paste comments from AI, it's becoming more and more common. At least they have the courtesy of pointing it out but I expect that will stop before the AI comments do.
While I do love seeing the comments starting with "I asked ChatGPT..." get absolutely eviscerated in the replies and negatively voted, it is probably sending the wrong signal.
USPS is United States Postal Service. They didn't deliver the package once it was received in Australia.
Or does Australia's postal service have the initials USPS too? Not being a pedant, just don't know. (Aside: UK entirely privatized their postal service which is sad given history and doesn't seem to be working out so well.)
Not sure who is responsible for confirming whether he had a permit: oversees seller or shipping company, or customs/import upon receipt in Australia.
Guardian article says, "he ordered the items from a US-based science website and they were delivered to his parents’ home.... Nuclear materials can be imported legally by contacting the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office for a permit first."
So maybe all of this fuss was due to not having applied and received a permit?
Woah, this doesn't sound like over-reaction but the reporting doesn't give enough details to know:
>While his actions were criminal, the judge concluded that Lidden had mental health issues and displayed no malicious intent.... The delivery of the materials – which included a quantity of plutonium, depleted uranium, lutetium, thorium and radium...
Seems weird that the judge said Lidden had mental health "issues". Who knows how severe or debilitating the so-called mental health issues are? Not sure how the judge can make that decision on his own, about Lidden's mental health excusing him for doing something "criminal", although one wonders too how well the 1987 nuclear non-proliferation law was written, and if it was even applicable given small amounts Lidden possessed.
Key question is Lidden's purchase amounts of plutonium, depleted uranium, lutetium, thorium, and radium for his home periodic table display. (I totally understand the motivation for wanting to do that! I would love to have every element, even a tiny bit, for that reason too.)
Plutonium seems most concerning. It doesn't exist in nature but Pu-239 is the by-product of Uranium-238 used for fuel by nuclear reactors. (Not certain about isotype numbers.) Lidden bought depleted uranium, so that's more okay... I guess. (Don't know what its half life is even after "depletion".) Pu-239 and Pu-240 half-lives are thousands of years. Due to the radioactive alpha decay of plutonium, it is warm to the touch!
I wonder if he even had real plutonium, because even the non-weapons grade costs at least US$4,000 per gram.
Final thought:
Chemical toxicity of (undepleted) uranium U-238 is comparable to its radioactive toxicity.
Chemical toxicity of plutonium Pu-239, Pu-240 etc. is minor compared with its radioactive toxicity. By chemical toxicity, they're referring to the tendency for plutonium to spontaneously combust if exposed to moisture, or in hot humid weather. It can even catch on fire when submerged in water.
Also, via Guardian, this attitude is demeaning and depressing:
>"At a sentence hearing in March, the lawyer described Lidden as a “science nerd” who committed the offences out of pure naivety. “It was a manifestation of self-soothing retreating into collection; it could have been anything but in this case he latched on to the collection of the periodic table,”
Thank you. I only read the second, more recent article, not realizing that their was a prior one.
Case seems ridiculous. Judge's ruling, despite no penalty, is embarrassing because he doesn't seem to understand the lack of danger of such small amounts, AND made gratuitous public statement about Lidden's mental health.
> Who knows how severe or debilitating the so-called mental health issues are? Not sure how the judge can make that decision on his own, about Lidden's mental health excusing him for doing something "criminal
Perhaps the judge made the determination based on evidence, such as testimony from experts? I don't know but does anyone else here?
When I was in grade-school, my classmate's father was a collector of model trains. And he was, in fact, so avid and dedicated with his collection that every shelf and available space in his home was filled with those model trains. I indeed visited them a couple of times and, being the grandson of a railroader and owner/operator of a Lionel set myself, I was quite awed by the variety and cool stuff on display. In fact, his daughter once visited another friend's home, and she was utterly mystified as she looked around, asking "but where are the trains?"
Now there is surely a fine line between obsession and dedication in a collector's spirit, and this particular fellow became quite successful in real estate, so that he was able to open up a storefront in a very busy area of town and dedicate the space as his "private museum". By that time he had branched out into collecting automobiles, yes full-size ones, typewriters, purses (his wife liked those), phonographs and all sorts of other amazing, mostly mechanical, wonders. He took over for the local model train shop just down the way. So anyone in the market for a train set can also linger for a gander at his comprehensive museum setup.
So I am unsure if his obsession presented any sort of disability; he certainly ran a business, had a good wife and children (who also ran businesses), and he was eventually able to parlay this collection into something quite public, if only a breaking-even "vanity project" where his friends dropped by.
So, like, I would never discourage someone from cultivating a cool collection of stuff at home if there's a chance it turns into something like that. But just piling on ugly radioactive waste in your bedroom? I'm not sure that's a sane decision. I'm not sure that's something I would pay to see, or even come over for lunch. I would nod, smile, and call some hotline on the guy, myself.
> just piling on ugly radioactive waste in your bedroom
This is an egregious mischaracterization which detracts from your otherwise excellent comment. Lidden was working on collecting the periodic table in decorative display cases.[1] I don’t get the point of coin collections either, but that doesn’t mean I would describe one as a “grubby heap of heavy metals.”
I really like the visual of that big round teal orb surrounded by a magenta ring. It appears at the beginning and then again a little later on. Plot setting (rescue mission ...or something else TBD) is good. Only issues I had were
1. the asymmetrical cursor shape; could have been due to my own fine motor control inadequacy
2. rear thrusters had little or no power, making it very difficult to navigate and get in position to fire.
Music was too quiet at first, I thought, as I kind of liked it. Then I realized that was a good decision, so that it didn't become a distraction when I was trying to concentrate later on. Yes, I saw the volume controls and all that, but I think the default loudness settings are good as is.
Not sure what the six folders are for, at the very beginning?
IANAL so I'm likely missing something, but I don't understand why the person representing Google said they had won half the case, given that:
>Google violated the Sherman Act by monopolizing and unlawfully tying two parts of the ad tech stack together, specifically DFP and AdX, and that Google is guilty of abuse of monopoly power in publisher-side adtech
AND
>In a separate antitrust case, another federal judge last year found that Google illegally monopolized the general internet search market.
Also, I think the article said that the judge for this most recent case, the Sherman Act violations, would discuss remedies on Thursday. But today is Thursday. Do you think they meant next week?
You're referring to the Space Weather Prediction Research Center website, yes? I just checked the Newsroom for NOAA SWPC. There was nothing mentioned. I also visited their social media at https://x.com/nwsswpc and https://www.facebook.com/NWSSWPC/ Nothing there either; so far, so good.
EDIT: I worry about gen AI but I also worry that Fortune Magazine and exploitative click baiters will try to capitalize on my worry and fears. I need to read the full article. If you don't have the means to provide access, I can get it myself. Thank you for posting this; I didn't mean to be demanding.