Favorites December 21st 2022

December 2022

OverSoft (Mastodon: @OverSoft@infosec.exchange) @OverSoftNL

It’s pretty insane what someone can do with Chinese PCB assembly, a steady hand and some resin. A full working computer in a sloped 2x2 LEGO brick.

youtu.beBrick AssemblyThe making of a computer-in-a-brick.I’ve chopped out sections that went on a bit, but tried to leave in enough of everything to show the whole process.Edited...

When I read the description, I couldn't imagine just how perfect this thing would turn out. The build process is interesting, but you can just skip to the end if you just want to see the final working product, it’s beautiful.

Ryan Packer @typewriteralley

Exclusive: this morning @UrbanistOrg has a first look at how Seattle's new automatic traffic cameras are performing. Bus lane cameras are generating lots of tickets, but the block-the-box cameras show early signs of prompting drivers to change behavior.

theurbanist.orgSeattle’s ‘Block the Box’ Cameras Show Early Signs of WorkingThe new intersection cameras issued over 1,800 warning tickets to blocking drivers within the first few months of the program, but only 34 official citations. Earlier this year, Seattle became the …

Interestingly, one of their findings is that people were likely to stop blocking intersections when they got warning tickets first, but warnings for violating bus-only lanes were much more likely to lead to repeat infractions.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Minimum wage and EITC reduce crime by increasing the returns to work, but only for boring remunerative crimes like theft and dealing drugs — no impact on violence.

nber.orgThe Minimum Wage, EITC, and Criminal RecidivismFounded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, and business professionals.

This really surprised me because I'd think that a fair amount of violent crime is due to people handling disputes between people where there's a tangential relation to crime so they can't go to the police. So I'd expect that being more able to get a job would reduce violent crime as well, but... this study says no.

Grace Segers @Grace_Segers

Tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees were paroled into the U.S., expiring after two years. Right now, they don't have a path to permanent residency. So when the two years are up - August 2023 - will they have to return to a country which just banned girls from attending college?

There have been so many times I've brought up the importance of allowing more immigration, but this one is just so stark, so clear, we must allow these people a path to permanent residency. Canada is eating our lunch.

Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson

Easy to understand why people want to preserve such beauty

Threads

• Short thread from CA State Senator Scott Wiener about how homelessness is caused by lack of homes, not mental health issues.