HackerNews Summary (2023-04-30 07AM)

Source: Report: FAA overruled engineers, let Boeing Max keep flying

Summary
Boeing 737 Max remained flying after the second deadly crash, as FAA officials waited for more detailed data, despite some engineers recommending grounding the plane, according to a government watchdog report.

Fact

🛬 FAA officials decided not to ground the Boeing 737 Max despite some individual engineers recommending it after the second deadly crash.

🔍 The investigation revealed FAA officials wanted to sort out raw data about the two crashes before making a decision.

📈 An FAA official said one engineer’s preliminary estimate suggested “that there was a 25% chance of an accident in 60 days” if no changes were made to the planes.

🔧 The FAA did not let the planes fly again until late 2020 after Boeing altered a flight-control system that autonomously pointed the plane’s nose down.

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Source: Pirated books thrive on Amazon — and authors say web giant ignores fraud

Summary
Counterfeit versions of books sold by third parties on Amazon have left readers with illegible books that fall apart and authors with a loss of revenue. The issue is especially prevalent for textbooks, according to publishing industry sources. The fake copies have drawn complaints from several authors and publishers, however, Amazon takes a cut of third-party sales regardless of whether the books they sell are genuine or fake.

Fact

💻 Customers and authors take issue with Amazon regarding counterfeit copies of books sold by third parties.

📚 The forgeries available on Amazon range from soft and hardcovers to e-books and are especially prevalent for expensive textbooks.

💸 Amazon takes a cut of all third-party sales and isn’t incentivised to reduce the number of counterfeit books on the site, according to sources in the industry.

🚫 Several authors and publishers have reported the issue to Amazon with minimal response.

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Source: Basics of Space Flight: Orbital Mechanics

Summary
Satellite orbits can be any of the four conic sections, with elliptical orbits being the most common. The orbit can be described using six quantities, called orbital elements, including eccentricity, inclination, and periapsis.

Facts

🔴 An elliptical orbit has two foci and a constant sum of distances from any point on the curve to those foci.

🛰️ Semi-major axis represents a satellite’s mean distance from its primary.

🌀 Eccentricity is the distance between the foci divided by the length of the major axis.

🌍 Inclination is the angular distance between a satellite’s orbital plane and the equator of its primary.

🌐 The argument of periapsis is the angular distance between the ascending node and the point of periapsis.

🌒 Periapsis is the point in an orbit closest to the primary.

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Source: Whistleblowers Are the Conscience of Society, Yet Suffer Gravely For Trying to Hold the Rich and Powerful Accountable For Their Sins

importance of whistleblowers perpetuates a culture of silence that tolerates corruption and human rights violations. Summary
Whistleblowers play a crucial role in exposing abuse and malfeasance in society, but they often face oppressive labels and lack protection. Attempts to classify whistleblowers demeans their role as a moral challenge and distracts from the importance of their disclosures. Legislatures should provide the protections they deserve.

Fact

💣 Whistleblowers often face negative labels like “snitch” or “leaker” instead of recognition for their actions.

🤝 Studies show that positive characteristics such as education and morality are associated with whistleblowers rather than specific demographics such as race or gender.

🤫 A culture of silence that tolerates corruption is perpetuated when the importance of whistleblowers is ignored.

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Source: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

Summary
Public support for the monarchy has fallen to an all-time low with just 29% of Britons believing that the institution is “very important”. However, there is a bump in popularity for the monarchy during showpiece events. In 2023, 45% of respondents said either it should be abolished, was not at all important or not very important.

Fact

👑 Only 29% of Britons think the monarchy is “very important”, marking the lowest proportion ever recorded.

📉 The number of those answering “very important” is at the lowest level since data collection began in 1983.

🤝 Support for the monarchy rose temporarily during important national events like jubilees, marriages and births.

👎 In 2023, 45% of respondents believed that the monarchy should either be abolished, was not at all important, or was not very important.

👴 42% of those aged 55 and over view the monarchy as “very important” compared to just 12% of 18 to 34-year-olds.

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Source: Runa Sandvik: “Example of why you should not use FaceID to unloc…”

Summary
JavaScript must be enabled to use Mastodon’s web application. Try using one of the native Mastodon apps available for your platform or enabling JavaScript in your browser settings.

Fact

🔒 Mastodon’s web app requires JavaScript to be enabled.

📱 Native Mastodon apps are available for multiple platforms.

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Source: What Do You Know?

Summary
Simon Winchester’s latest book, “The Perfectionists,” is a delightful compendium of interesting and intriguing facts that arouse curiosity and widen one’s appreciation of the vast world beyond one’s immediate vision.

Fact

💡 The Chinese government erased the memory of Tiananmen Square.

📰 The British perpetrators of the massacre in Derry, Northern Ireland, known as “Bloody Sunday,” lied about it for decades.

📚 The Encyclopaedia Britannica founder was 4 feet 6 inches tall and gifted with a gargantuan nose.

🎤 The founder of BBC required his newscasters to wear formal dress — on the radio.

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Source: 1. Introduction — Machine Learing Compilation 0.0.1 documentation

Summary
Machine learning compilation refers to the process of transforming and optimizing machine learning execution from development form to deployment form, involving model descriptions, weights, and a set of code, routines, and interfaces for execution. Different environments have diversities in terms of hardware, OS, container execution environment, runtime library variants or accelerators, making ML productionisation a complex task.

Facts

🤖 Machine learning compilation is the process of transforming and optimizing machine learning execution from development form to deployment form.

🧰 Development form for machine learning involves model descriptions in frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX, as well as weights associated with them.

💻 Deployment form for machine learning requires a set of code generated to support each step of the machine learning model, routines to manage resources (e.g. memory), and interfaces to application development environments (e.g. java API for Android apps).

🏗️ ML productionisation is a complex task as different environments have diversities in terms of hardware, OS, container execution environment, runtime library variants or accelerators involved.

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