An entertaining read about “the good old days.” before we had electronics in every nook and cranny. Here are two quotes from the piece:

🤔 While it’s fun to read, it also made me question my behavior. I’m taking my smartphone out for pretty much everything. So much of “the moment” is lost when you do that. 

Bert Hubert is back with another great article on leap seconds. In short: we need to compensate for the fact that Earth doesn’t rotate at a steady pace. Instead, it speeds up and slows down slightly.

Leap seconds (and timekeeping in general) have been very tricky for computers. Did anyone say Y2K? Anyway, I thought this was a non-issue, but leap seconds cause all sorts of issues and will even impact GPS. That took me down the rabbit hole of learning how GPS works (essentially very precise clocks in space).

AirPod’s are amazing. I have a pair of them, and I use them every day. However, they aren’t serviceable. If their tiny batteries start to degrade, your only option is to buy new ones.

Last year, Apple shipped over 70 million AirPods. Unfortunately, all of these carry an expiration date, and they’ll likely end up in landfills after their lifetime. That’s crazy! Some companies are now specializing in replacing the batteries inside AirPods to give them new life.

🤔 Should we instead mandate that products should be serviceable and repairable?

What would happen if you stuck your head inside a particle accelerator? Apart from getting an insane amount of energy through your head, you would be relatively okay.

Soviet scientist Anatoli Bugorski can attest to this. His head was in a particle accelerator when a safety mechanism failed. The damage? He saw a flash of light but felt no pain. He’s still alive today but occasionally suffers from seizures, and half of his face is paralyzed (it also appears younger than the other half).

Lithium-Ion batteries are fantastic but also have some shortcomings. For example, they degrade over time, don’t do well in low temperatures, and use exotic materials like Cobalt and Nickel.

Contemporary Amperex Technology has now made a Sodium-Ion battery that alleviates some of these issues. Their batteries store less energy, but they can charge faster (80% in 15 minutes), perform better in low temperatures, and are free of Lithium, Cobalt, and Nickel.

The company plans to start producing them in 2023 as part of a hybrid battery pack.

In 2020 and 2021, we saw very few Influenza cases because of the COVID19 restrictions. Wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping a distance prevents many viruses from spreading, not just SARS-CoV-2.

We’re currently seeing reductions in many types of infections: measles (-86%), whooping cough (-64%), rotavirus (-83%), norovirus (-79%). 

🤔 That raises the question: are our immune systems getting out of shape because we’re less exposed to germs? Actually no. The immune system is not a muscle that needs regular exercise. Instead, our bodies are constantly under attack.