1
Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Will water at low pressure still freeze at zero degrees?
« on: 02/02/2023 17:08:53 »
Dare I ask why this phenomenon occurs?
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2
Geek Speak / Re: Should you secure erase an SSD before giving it away, like you should an HDD?
« on: 02/02/2023 17:07:50 »There are legends about spooks who could read the data previously stored on a hard-disk, by reading the stray data "between" the tracks.
- Hence the idea of overwriting every sector with random data, multiple times, approaching from multiple directions, to also overwrite the "stray" data between the tracks.
I do not know whether the spook art has progressed to the point of sawing open the chips and counting the electrons on an EEPROM NAND gate, and determining whether that cell previously contained a 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 before it was overwritten
- I am sure that spooks would attempt this procedure if they had the opportunity to read the guidance software of a missile - before it has been erased.
Overwriting the every sector multiple times will cause wear on the SSD - but apparently they are rated at 100,000 write cycles, so not too much wear.
- As sectors wear out, they are put on a "do not use" list, and the result is that the disk capacity slowly decreases (and you might lose an occasional file which suddenly couldn't be recovered)
- I suggest that for an SSD, it is sufficient to use a tool which overwrites every sector once
See (other brands are available): https://www.kingston.com/en/blog/pc-performance/nand-flash-technology-and-ssd
That was my view, and what I decided to do; a write-once is probably sufficient.
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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Will water at low pressure still freeze at zero degrees?
« on: 31/01/2023 11:58:52 »
Water under a lower pressure boils at a lower temperature because the lower pressure makes it easier for molecules to gain sufficient energy from the liquid to sever the intermolecular forces within the fluid and escape as a vapour. But what happens to the freezing point?
4
New Theories / Re: New theory of social evolution and social structure
« on: 31/01/2023 11:44:22 »
What's the question you are asking?
5
Geek Speak / Should you secure erase an SSD before giving it away, like you should an HDD?
« on: 31/01/2023 09:59:50 »
I was contemplating giving one of my children my old laptop because hers is falling apart.
My one uses SSD storage. But because I've used it at the hospital and for clinical work, while there should be no personal data there, I wanted to erase it with a data over-write to be absolutely certain.
But then I was warned that this can damage an SSD storage device.
My questions are:
1) Is data over-writing necessary for an SSD storage system
2) How can a single over-write possibly damage / prematurely age the device more than routine use does anyway?
3) Is a multiple pass overwrite unnecessary on an SSD.
4) If I cannot over-write it, how should I make the device "data safe" before passing it to a third party?
My one uses SSD storage. But because I've used it at the hospital and for clinical work, while there should be no personal data there, I wanted to erase it with a data over-write to be absolutely certain.
But then I was warned that this can damage an SSD storage device.
My questions are:
1) Is data over-writing necessary for an SSD storage system
2) How can a single over-write possibly damage / prematurely age the device more than routine use does anyway?
3) Is a multiple pass overwrite unnecessary on an SSD.
4) If I cannot over-write it, how should I make the device "data safe" before passing it to a third party?
6
General Science / Re: Do we sense temperature?
« on: 04/10/2022 12:11:03 »
We sense temperature, and heat-sensitive neurones fire at a rate proportionate to the temperature, notwithstanding effects of adaptation / accommodation.
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Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Is this a fossil worm?
« on: 02/10/2022 20:49:31 »
I found this piece of chert in East Anglia. It has a surface impression running right around the stone of something resembling a worm. Can you suggest what it might be?
IMG_20221002_204236.jpg (2333.7 kB . 3120x4160 - viewed 1246 times)
IMG_20221002_204236.jpg (2333.7 kB . 3120x4160 - viewed 1246 times)
8
Just Chat! / Re: Image copyright infringement claim SCAMS
« on: 15/09/2022 09:37:37 »
Jack is a persistent bugger isn't he?! He's back today, this time representing a plumbing company...
It's interesting that all these scams seem to relate to Australian utilities / service entities (lighting, electric, plumbing). I wonder if "Jack" is actually based in Australia. We'll need to do a bit of digging.
Anyway, just another example of this appalling copyright theft scam; don't fall for it...
Quote
Dear owner of https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/cape-town-when-water-runs-out,
You are receiving this legal infringement notice from Nationwide
Legal Trademark Department due to the unauthorized usage of our client's
image.
The use of this image : https://i.imgur.com/VqwuuPo.png on this page
: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/cape-town-when-water-runs-out
is fine, as long as our client (***** Plumbing) is fully credited.
The credit must appear under the image or the footer of the page and
be clickable to https://www.SPAMMY-PLUMBING-URL.com.au/ within 5 working
days. We await your response to confirm this has been completed, removing
the image does not resolve the case.
Failure to do so in this time frame, will result in legal case (No.
83474) proceeding under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's Section 512(c)
(" DMCA") for past and or current usage.
Past usage of the image can be seen in the records on Wayback Machine
(https://web.archive.org) - a permanent public archive of the web, which
will be called upon as evidence in this case.
This email serves as the required official notice.
Regards
Jack Moore
Trademark Attorney
Nationwide Legal
401 Congress Ave. #1540,
Austin, TX 78701
jack@nationwide-law.org
www.nationwide-law.org
It's interesting that all these scams seem to relate to Australian utilities / service entities (lighting, electric, plumbing). I wonder if "Jack" is actually based in Australia. We'll need to do a bit of digging.
Anyway, just another example of this appalling copyright theft scam; don't fall for it...
9
Just Chat! / Re: Image copyright infringement claim SCAMS
« on: 30/08/2022 16:55:45 »
We've not seen many of these scammy emails lately, but now they're back; two in the last week. I didn't bother posting last week's one, but this will suffice.
In the latest iteration, amazingly, a plumbing company seems to have gained the rights over a whole heap of public domain and CC0 images.
We're being extorted to post links under our images to the plumbing company in recognition of our usage of their images.
No sir! What scammers have done is to lift the images from the public domain source and add them to their own photo library; from where they're claiming ownership on behalf of this company.
The aim is to get lots of unsuspecting people, fearful of being sued for copyright infringement, to place links to their client's site. The client is possibly blameless in all this and unaware that the SEO or marketing team they've hired is resorting to these nefarious ends to boost the ratings of the site in question.
Anyway, just in case you get something like this, DO NOT FALL FOR IT - IT IS A SCAM. Please publish it here, to help other's avoid the same trick, and block the senders.
Here's today's missive, from "JACK"...
In the latest iteration, amazingly, a plumbing company seems to have gained the rights over a whole heap of public domain and CC0 images.
We're being extorted to post links under our images to the plumbing company in recognition of our usage of their images.
No sir! What scammers have done is to lift the images from the public domain source and add them to their own photo library; from where they're claiming ownership on behalf of this company.
The aim is to get lots of unsuspecting people, fearful of being sued for copyright infringement, to place links to their client's site. The client is possibly blameless in all this and unaware that the SEO or marketing team they've hired is resorting to these nefarious ends to boost the ratings of the site in question.
Anyway, just in case you get something like this, DO NOT FALL FOR IT - IT IS A SCAM. Please publish it here, to help other's avoid the same trick, and block the senders.
Here's today's missive, from "JACK"...
Quote
Dear owner of https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/cape-town-when-water-runs-out,
My name is Jack Moore, I am a Trademark Attorney of Nationwide Legal.
I am emailing you, since one of the copyright images on your website
belongs to our client, Milbur Plumbing.
This image: https://i.imgur.com/VqwuuPo.png is used without an
appropriate reference on your website - (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/cape-town-when-water-runs-out).
The image used on your website can be seen in the permanent public
web archive The Wayback Machine at https://web.archive.org.
The use and sharing of our client's photograph online is allowed,
however only when appropriate image credit is attributed, this is required
for both past or present usage.
A text credit to <CLIENT WEBSITE WHO MAY BE UNAWARE OF THESE TACTICS> must be put eitehr under the image or in a suitable location on the offending page, along with a link to
<SPAMMY LINK TO CLIENT WEBSITE> . Otherwise, we must pursue legal action.
To track this issue, I've assigned case ID #4822, which you need to
quote in any communications. Your lawsuit will be dismissed once you have
given the image proper credit on the page.
This letter serves as an official notice required under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act's Section 512(c) (" DMCA"). We will have to move
through with filing a DMCA legal lawsuit if this is not remedied within 5
working days.
We have the full rights to act on behalf of the copyright owner(s) in
giving this notice.
Regards
Jack Moore
Trademark Attorney
Nationwide Legal
401 Congress Ave. #1540,
Austin, TX 78701
jack@nationwide-law.org
10
Geek Speak / Re: Victim of an Adult Site Blackmail Email Hoax?
« on: 26/08/2022 11:14:27 »
We've not see much of this lately, but today the first of these messages in a while reared its ugly head. So here it is to help out anyone who goes searching for this scammer's bitcoin address!
Please remember, this is a SCAM. Don't be fooled by the attempt at deception regarding your email address. It's easy to send emails that say they are from anyone. If I wanted to, I could impersonate Elvis Presley and email his fanbase. These are just shallow scammers preying on people. Don't fall for it; and if you have received a communication like this, post it here to help warn others.
Quote
Hello!
Have you recently noticed that I have e-mailed you from your account?
Yes, this simply means that I have total access to your device.
For the last couple of months, I have been watching you.
Still wondering how is that possible? Well, you have been infected with malware originating from an adult website that you visited. You may not be familiar with this, but I will try explaining it to you.
With help of the Trojan Virus, I have complete access to a PC or any other device.
This simply means I can see you at any time I wish to on your screen by simply turning on your camera and microphone, without you even noticing it. In addition, I have also got access to your contacts list and all your correspondence.
You may be asking yourself, "But my PC has an active antivirus, how is this even possible? Why didn't I receive any notification?" Well, the answer is simple: my malware uses drivers, where I update the signatures every four hours, making it undetectable, and hence keeping your antivirus silent.
I have a video of you w$$$$$g on the left screen, and on the right screen - the video you were watching while masturbating.
Wondering how bad could this get? With just a single click of my mouse, this video can be sent to all your social networks, and e-mail contacts.
I can also share access to all your e-mail correspondence and messengers that you use.
All you have to do to prevent this from happening is - transfer bitcoins worth $1450 (USD) to my Bitcoin address (if you have no idea how to do this, you can open your browser and simply search: "Buy Bitcoin").
My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is: 17wkbqoaUCUUxw3N1QocutFJTH47Zb8jPQ
After receiving a confirmation of your payment, I will delete the video right away, and that's it, you will never hear from me again.
You have 2 days (48 hours) to complete this transaction.
Once you open this e-mail, I will receive a notification, and my timer will start ticking.
Any attempt to file a complaint will not result in anything, since this e-mail cannot be traced back, same as my bitcoin id.
I have been working on this for a very long time by now; I do not give any chance for a mistake.
If, by any chance I find out that you have shared this message with anybody else, I will broadcast your video as mentioned above.
Please remember, this is a SCAM. Don't be fooled by the attempt at deception regarding your email address. It's easy to send emails that say they are from anyone. If I wanted to, I could impersonate Elvis Presley and email his fanbase. These are just shallow scammers preying on people. Don't fall for it; and if you have received a communication like this, post it here to help warn others.
11
Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can we hitchhike on asteroids to travel through space?
« on: 08/06/2022 16:14:40 »
Would there be any advantage to this? After all, a spacecraft capable of reaching an asteroid is, by definition, already travelling through space at that speed and capable of powering itself, so what would be the purpose of the added risk and complexity of landing on an asteroid or comet, other than to study that body itself?
12
Physiology & Medicine / Re: Can You Define What a Woman Is ?
« on: 08/06/2022 16:12:25 »I read an article a while back as to why, when there is no functional need for them, men have nipples, and this was because all you guys started out as females.
Males have nipples because they form during embryonic development following a default developmental pathway that is not linked to sex hormones. A specific body segment is genetically programmed to produce that tissue as the skin forms. When we go into puberty, under the influence of some hormones, the tissue there responds locally to turn the nipple area into a breast.
For this reason, males given the right stimulus (physical and or chemical) can augment their glandular tissue there too and produce milk. Males of some species do this anyway to participate in breast feeding - bats are an example.
13
Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: Cat's meow
« on: 25/05/2022 23:08:41 »
They make a racket when they are mating, and the noise then is definitely not for our benefit!
14
Cells, Microbes & Viruses / Re: Monkeypox: Could it be similar to cowpox, and just a mild variant of smallpox?
« on: 25/05/2022 23:06:49 »
Monkeypox was documented decades ago; the name is misleading, because it's not actually an infection of monkeys; nor is chickenpox an infection of chickens, for that matter!
The natural host of this orthopoxvirus are rodents like rats, mice and squirrels. Periodically the agent jumps into bigger animals, including us and sometimes monkeys, and that's how it was detected decades ago and mislabelled as monkeypox.
But it is a highly evolved virus that is a close relative of vaccinia, cowpox and smallpox. Unsurprisingly, it produces similar symptoms in all of these, but because it is poorly evolved to infect humans, it tends to show limited spread and severity in us.
All viruses exploit opportunities afforded to them to spread. Something, or a range of factors - possibly declining global immunity against pox viruses in general - has provoked the present outbreak, which is probably fuelled by a superspreader event.
We anticipate more cases will be picked up, because we're on the lookout for it, but we don't anticipate widescale spread at the moment.
The natural host of this orthopoxvirus are rodents like rats, mice and squirrels. Periodically the agent jumps into bigger animals, including us and sometimes monkeys, and that's how it was detected decades ago and mislabelled as monkeypox.
But it is a highly evolved virus that is a close relative of vaccinia, cowpox and smallpox. Unsurprisingly, it produces similar symptoms in all of these, but because it is poorly evolved to infect humans, it tends to show limited spread and severity in us.
All viruses exploit opportunities afforded to them to spread. Something, or a range of factors - possibly declining global immunity against pox viruses in general - has provoked the present outbreak, which is probably fuelled by a superspreader event.
We anticipate more cases will be picked up, because we're on the lookout for it, but we don't anticipate widescale spread at the moment.
15
Physiology & Medicine / Re: Can a broken bone in the ear cause vertigo?
« on: 12/05/2022 12:58:35 »
It sounds like you are referring to an Epley Manoeuvre, which is a sequence of head movements designed to dislodge detritus from the vestibular system. We've discussed it here before; here's the link: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=47740.0
17
The Environment / Re: How does Admiral Fitzroy’s weather predicting storm glass work?
« on: 25/02/2022 13:07:26 »
What is Admiral Fitzroy's storm glass?
18
Geek Speak / Re: Victim of an Adult Site Blackmail Email Hoax?
« on: 28/01/2022 17:00:19 »
We're getting new variants of these emails faster than Covid churns them out!
Here's this week's offering form another desperately sad scammer.
Please remember folks, THIS IS A SCAM. They have not compromised your computer and they don't have any recordings. It's easy to spoof emails to make it look like they are coming from your own address.
My computer doesn't even have a camera, or two screens come to that, so how they magically gained access to a non-existent camera and monitor is a mystery.
If you receive a message like this, using the above Bitcoin address, just mark it up as SPAM and dismiss it; definitely do not pay them and definitely do not worry about it.
Here's this week's offering form another desperately sad scammer.
Please remember folks, THIS IS A SCAM. They have not compromised your computer and they don't have any recordings. It's easy to spoof emails to make it look like they are coming from your own address.
My computer doesn't even have a camera, or two screens come to that, so how they magically gained access to a non-existent camera and monitor is a mystery.
Quote
Hello!
Have you recently noticed that I have e-mailed you from your account?
Yes, this simply means that I have total access to your device.
For the last couple of months, I have been watching you.
Still wondering how is that possible? Well, you have been infected with malware originating from an adult website that you visited. You may not be familiar with this, but I will try explaining it to you.
With help of the Trojan Virus, I have complete access to a PC or any other device.
This simply means I can see you at any time I wish to on your screen by simply turning on your camera and microphone, without you even noticing it. In addition, I have also got access to your contacts list and all your correspondence.
You may be asking yourself, "But my PC has an active antivirus, how is this even possible? Why didn't I receive any notification?" Well, the answer is simple: my malware uses drivers, where I update the signatures every four hours, making it undetectable, and hence keeping your antivirus silent.
I have a video of you w*****g on the left screen, and on the right screen - the video you were watching while masturbating.
Wondering how bad could this get? With just a single click of my mouse, this video can be sent to all your social networks, and e-mail contacts.
I can also share access to all your e-mail correspondence and messengers that you use.
All you have to do to prevent this from happening is - transfer bitcoins worth $1490 (USD) to my Bitcoin address (if you have no idea how to do this, you can open your browser and simply search: "Buy Bitcoin").
My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is: 1Q7oKyU8HWEZk2RhP9AapqdnuCy9p3TUAq
After receiving a confirmation of your payment, I will delete the video right away, and that's it, you will never hear from me again.
You have 2 days (48 hours) to complete this transaction.
Once you open this e-mail, I will receive a notification, and my timer will start ticking.
Any attempt to file a complaint will not result in anything, since this e-mail cannot be traced back, same as my bitcoin id.
I have been working on this for a very long time by now; I do not give any chance for a mistake.
If, by any chance I find out that you have shared this message with anybody else, I will broadcast your video as mentioned above.
If you receive a message like this, using the above Bitcoin address, just mark it up as SPAM and dismiss it; definitely do not pay them and definitely do not worry about it.
19
Geek Speak / Re: Is it still possible to run your vintage hardware?
« on: 31/12/2021 18:14:32 »
You are so right. I've chucked away so many cherished peripherals over the years as they have been rendered - despite being fully functional, reliable and loved - obsolescent. It's almost like reinventing roads so only modern cars can drive on them.
20
COVID-19 / Re: COVID: what does the future will look like?
« on: 28/12/2021 23:22:57 »
Worth bearing in mind that Alpha (the "Kent" strain) evolved in the UK, and Omicron emerged in southern Africa, which has relatively high vaccine uptake. So it's not a given that you vaccinate the third world and the variant problem goes away. What will solve this, long term, is population immunity accrued by successive encounters with the virus from a young age.