Chernobyl Series
When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there.
Valery Legasov
But it is still there.
Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid.
Stress eating and the voice of justification
Stress eating is a thing – and it’s related to how we mentally handle anxiety. Here’s a summary of what the psychologist did with his patient Johnny who was stress eating hot dogs:
I showed him some breathing techniques to help deactivate the sympathetic nervous system, which plays a strong role in producing the feeling one must urgently act on the impulse to overeat. I also helped him more specifically label his emotions so he might gain more of a sense of control. I also explained he might be approaching the entire issue with the wrong mindset.
It’s only when emotions are allowed to become actual behavior that damage to your health (over-eating) is done, and this only happens when some type of rational justification makes it “OK” to act against your previously best laid plans. It turns out that when you make a very specific rule to accomplish an important health goal, there’s almost always a voice of justification that occurs which rationalizes crossing the line you previously swore not to cross.
Turns out, these were the very specific thoughts and situations which were poking a hole in his resolve, justifying crossing the eating goals, and acting on the emotions in a negative way. To help arrest this behavior, I helped Johnny to label and very specifically dispute each one:
THOUGHT: “This is intolerable! I shouldn’t have to put up with people like this (usually his boss). The only way to cope is with more frankfurters.”
DISPUTATION: “Almost everyone has to swallow some difficult treatment from their superiors. Besides, frankfurters aren’t the only way to cope. I could work it off in the gym, go for a walk, do some breathing exercises, or just sit with the anger until it passes…which is almost always a lot quicker than I think it will be.”
At first, Johnny felt he couldn’t fight these thoughts even though he could identify them. So I had him carry around a little card with the specific disputations for each one, and I asked him to keep a little journal each morning where he wrote down any new rationalizations he felt brewing in his head. After a while, these thoughts lost their power, and Johnny indeed stuck with his three frankfurter rule.
Deep Fakes Keep getting better
I’ve written about the various AI algorithms that allow for image and voice replacement before. How about this scene from The Shining – but with Jim Carry instead?
AR for car repair
One of the more interesting and hot uses for VR and AR has turned out to be training and repair.
BMW announced it has added RealWear HMT-1 smartglasses to the tool kit its technicians use in order to reduce the time a car spends in the shop, and make its service centers more efficient. The technology will be fully implemented at all participating dealerships by the end of June 2019.
Ubimax’s augmented reality technology lets them access service manuals on the spot. Voice recognition lets mechanics open files hands free. For example, a technician changing the water pump can access a diagram showing how to install the part using the smartglasses.
The technology also puts mechanics in contact with engineers if they need to diagnose or solve a more enigmatic problem. Using the smartglasses, a mechanic can remotely work with a member of the engineering team via a hands-free video link. The engineer sees what the mechanic see, and can send an image, a diagram, or voice instructions directly to the smartglasses.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/bmw-mechanics-using-smart-glasses-to-fix-cars-faster/
Amazing bookstores of China
There are amazing new designs coming from China. Some of them are happening in retail spaces – especially in book stores. Shanghai Zhongshu Industrial Ltd. is one such bookseller that has been using Shanghai-based X+living design firm to create amazing book stores.
Most noteable to me was this 1,300 square-meter (approx. 14,000 sq.ft) store on four levels is located in the Zodi Plaza completed in 2016 in Chongqing. The clever use of mirrors and staircases makes it a truly M.C. Escher-esque experience and takes its inspiration from old libraries with the dark brown hues and floor-to-ceiling shelves.
For other stores, the designers also took cues from the shapes of Chinese lanterns and lamp shades:
What makes the areas of the store even more fantastical is the use of mirrors and reflecting surfaces that makes the space seemingly endless and turns things upside down.
I’m continually amazed by the innovative work coming out of China. They appear to be having a real design renaissance. I for one will be keeping an eye out for work coming from there.
Reference: https://thecoolhunter.net/zhongshuge-bookstore-chongqing-china/
Windows 10 99% memory usage even when nothing is running
Running out of memory while running Windows isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. But since Windows 8, things have mostly gotten better from memory usage/performance.
I recently ran into an issue where I’d close down all of my apps, but leave my system on overnight. When I’d jiggle the mouse in the morning, I would be greeted with horrendously sluggish drive swapping and 100% memory utilization. On a system with 32 gigs of memory. Even worse, I opened up my task manager and shut down everything possible – but nothing was indicated where 25+ gigs of memory went. Bad job Microsoft, shouldn’t your performance tools be able to tell me what is using up 90% of my system memory?
I got a clue from the fact my non-pageable memory usage was huge. This, apparently, indicates a driver or service with a memory leak:
https://windows101tricks.com/fix-memory-leak-problem-on-windows-10/
The problem was the Killer Network Suite. Apparently, this is a pretty common problem with the Killer network driver. I uninstalled it, and the problems seemed to go away.
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/3yzjyz/killer_network_suite_gave_me_a_major_memory_leak/
I then downloaded and installed the DRIVER ONLY package for the network interface by going directly to the Killer network website.
Turns out that the Killer network suite unfortunately lives up to it’s name: it certainly killed all the memory on my system. 🙁
Autonomous taxis won’t save us from congestion either
I’ve already written about this before. Namely, rideshares like Uber/Lyft increase congestion in cities – not alleviate it. Mostly because these services put people that would have likely taken public transport/walked/biked into a car instead. It doesn’t reduce driving either since they’re just swapping one car on the road for someone else’s. Since then, there have been numerous other studies that have confirmed this effect.
A new study by EHT – Zurich’s Institute for Transport Planning and Systems seeks to find out if that equation changes if autonomous taxi services were introduced. Using an agent-based simulation on the city of Zurich, they tested a number of scenarios (service models, owner models, etc), examined costs, and how disruptive the shift would be. The simulation uses an agent-based system in which individuals make decisions based on time/cost/etc, instead of overarching rules. This has previously produced really accurate studies.
Turns out, the impact is not as much as people expect, and the fleet to do it actually must stay relatively small when paired with existing, good quality mass transit systems to be viable. This doesn’t shock me in European cities with great public transit, but I wonder how it would play out in American cities without that infrastructure. My gut tells me it likely would be the same as Uber/Lyft study results.
Either way, the study is definitely worth a read:
https://www.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2019/06/driverless-congestion.html
MacOS 10.14 Mojave in VMWare
Developing a iOS app used to require buying a Macbook or Mac mini. With VMWare, it is no longer necessary. I used VMWare Workstation 15.0 Pro and was able to develop an app and debug it on real iPad/iPhone hardware. Setup instructions are here:
https://techsviewer.com/install-macos-mojave-vmware-windows/
Here’s the latest VMWare Mojave 10.14.4, 18E226 (March 25, 2019) image:
- MacOS Mojave 10.14.4 Image (One Full): Download Link
- Patch Tool & VM Tool: New Link
Further tips after the above setup
- Connecting iPad/iPhone/watch:
- In the Virtual Machine (VMWare) settings, set the USB compatibility to be 2.0 instead of 3.0.
- Also go to VM -> Removable devices, and connect the phone/pad/watch to the guest (it will disconnect from the host).
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36139020/macos-on-vmware-doesnt-recognize-ios-device
- Display Scaling:
- Disable HiDPI resolution (disable Auto Scaling): Open the VMX file then paste this code
gui.applyHostDisplayScalingToGuest = "FALSE" - Shut down the virtual machine, and select Edit -> Preferences
- Make sure ‘Autofit window’ and ‘Autofit guest’ are checked
- https://techsviewer.com/how-to-enter-full-screen-mode-on-macos-on-vmware/
- Disable HiDPI resolution (disable Auto Scaling): Open the VMX file then paste this code
Analog arcade!
Released in 1973, the SEGA Moto Champ machine had no screens, buttons, or a joystick. The electro-mechanical racing game had a group of magnetically-attached motorcycles which rolled over a “road” that was generated by shining light through a spinning cylinder onto the playfield.
Here’s another playthrough with more narration:
I love the clever engineering of older machines because of all the constraints. Games required you be more imaginative – which I think is really part of the fun of playing them.
Which is why I’ve come to love some of the ideas behind hackathons. Limits on time, resources, can help unlock amazing creativity.
Tour Early 1900’s New York City
Videographer Guy Jones edits century-old film – the ones that usually run too fast and jerky. Jones slowed down the film’s original speed and added ambient sound to match the activity seen on the city’s streets. This particular film print was created by the Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern during a trip to America, and remains in mint condition.
You can see more of Jones’s edits of films from the late 19th-century to mid-1900s on his Youtube channel. (via Twisted Sifter)