detfalskested

npm install everything

Evan Boehs and friends set up an experiment to install everything from npm and quickly ran into problems of an unexpected kind when trying to execute it.

Just a few hours after our last package hit the site, the first issue was filed. It acutely explained that we had rendered them incapable of removing their own package, which formerly had zero dependents. We instantly halted our celebrations, and tried to get to the root of the problem.

Ultimately, they ended up being thrown out of npm and GitHub, despite acting in good faith and proactively trying to solve the issues along the way.

GitHub has responded to Laura’s article, saying that the packages have been removed because “We found the project to be in violation of GitHub’s Acceptable Use Policies”, despite never naming a single rule we broke that didn’t involve blatantly false information. They have not, to this day, responded to or even acknowledged our numerous futile attempts to contact them.

A thing I learned from reading this story, is that npm apparently is owned by GitHub – who in turn is owned by Microsoft. I find having such a big part of the infrastructure for most of the web (and open source in general) under the control of Microsoft a bit worrying.

Via @fatrat

Frills' website is personal

Frills shares some of her thoughts about blogging:

But to heck with it. This website is personal. It can and will show my struggles with writing, my incoherence and inconsistency because that is my experience, it will also share my unique and interesting perspective on life because that is also my experience.

Via @cory

The problem with reinforced concrete

Guy Keulemans argues against using reinforced concrete in construction:

This has serious repercussions for the planet. Concrete is the third-largest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, after automobiles and coal-fuelled power plants. Cement manufacturing alone is responsible for roughly 5% of global CO₂ emissions. Concrete also makes up the largest proportion of construction and demolition waste, and represents about a third of all landfill waste.

Recycling concrete is difficult and expensive, reduces its strength and may catalyse chemical reactions that speed up decay. The world needs to reduce its concrete production, but this will not be possible without building longer-lasting structures.

Via @joepierce

Fake phishing

My employer regularly sends out false phishing e-mails, in order to educate us and create awareness.

They have outsourced the task to a company using a platform for this, called Lucy.

This morning I received another one of these faked phishing attempts, and had to laugh about this note at the bottom of the e-mail, written in tiny letters:

Please note that the third-party logos and trademarks used in this email or landing page are used for illustrative or instructional purposes only and there is no connection or relationship between the trademark owner and Lucy Security or the LUCY Security customer.

Apparently there's a legal problem in sending out e-mail pretending to be entities you're not.

Dødsdømt albinosvamp

En interessant konsekvens af industrialiseringen af osteproduktion:

Blue cheeses may be under threat, but the situation is much worse for Camembert, which is already on the verge of extinction. The world over, this other symbol of French gastronomy is inoculated exclusively with one single strain of Penicillium camemberti, a white mutant that was selected for Brie cheeses in 1898 and Camemberts in 1902.

The problem is that ever since then the strain has been replicated by vegetative propagation only. Until the 1950s, Camemberts still had grey, green or in some cases orange-tinged moulds on their surface. But the industry was not fond of these colours, considering them unappealing, and staked everything on the albino strain of P. camemberti, which is completely white and moreover has a silky texture. This is how Camembert acquired its now-characteristic pure white rind.

Year after year, generation after generation, the albino strain of P. camemberti, which was already incapable of sexual reproduction, lost its ability to produce asexual spores. As a result it is now very difficult for the entire industry to obtain enough P. camemberti spores to inoculate their production of the famous Norman cheese.

Læs hele artiklen hos CNRS News.

Via @johncarlosbaez