HackerNews Summary (2023-05-06 06PM)

Source: KDE Developers In Germany Planning For Plasma 6.0

Summary
Key KDE developers are currently meeting in Germany for an in-person Plasma 6.0 development sprint. The primary focus areas include stabilizing Plasma 6.0, UI/UX changes, KDE Frameworks 6 API changes, a design vision for Kirigami, and improving their test infrastructure.

Fact

👥 Key KDE developers are meeting in Germany for an in-person Plasma 6.0 development sprint.

👩‍💻 Focus areas include stabilizing Plasma 6.0, UI/UX changes, KDE Frameworks 6 API changes, a design vision for Kirigami, and improving their test infrastructure.

🏭 The sprint is taking place from 5 to 10 May at the TUXEDO Computers offices in Augsburg, Bavaria.

🗺️ Discussion topics include Plasma 6 roadmap, possibility of using Wayland by default in Plasma 6.0, and other topics.

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Source: None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use

Summary
Environmental consultancy Trucost’s report reveals that the majority of costs for “unpriced natural capital” stem from greenhouse gas emissions, followed by water use and land use. Total costs from unpriced natural capital amount to $7.3tn a year – 13% of 2009 GDP. Coal burning in China is the biggest environmental culprit, with greenhouse gases from coal burning in North America ranked fifth.

Fact

🌍 Greenhouse gas emissions contribute 38% of unpriced natural capital costs

💧 Water use contributes 25% of unpriced natural capital costs

🏞️ Land use contributes 24% of unpriced natural capital costs

🌫️ Air pollution contributes 7% of unpriced natural capital costs

💦 Land and water pollution cost 5% of unpriced natural capital costs

🗑️ Waste contributes 1% of unpriced natural capital costs

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Source: New Study: 70% of Type 2 Diabetes Cases Linked to Food Choices

Summary
Poor diet was a significant factor in the development of 14.1 million cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide in 2018, accounting for over 70% of all new diagnoses, according to a study by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. This chronic disease is associated with the resistance of the body’s cells to insulin.

Fact

🍚 Insufficient intake of whole grains, excesses of refined rice and wheat, and the overconsumption of processed meat are three dietary factors with an outsized contribution to the rising global incidence of type 2 diabetes.

🗺️ Poor diet is causing a larger proportion of total type 2 diabetes incidence in men versus women, in younger versus older adults, and in urban versus rural residents at the global level.

🐄 Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia have the greatest number of type 2 diabetes cases linked to diet, due to red meat, processed meat, and potato-rich diets.

🍹 Latin America and the Caribbean have high incidence, due to high consumption of sugary drinks, processed meat, and low intake of whole grains.

🌍 Sub-Saharan Africa experienced the largest increase in type 2 diabetes cases due to poor diet between 1990 and 2018, though India, Nigeria, and Ethiopia had the fewest cases related to unhealthy eating among the 30 most populated countries studied.

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Source: Windows 11: TPMs and Digital Sovereignty

Summary
The mandatory TPM 2.0 hardware requirement for Windows 11 has raised questions about personal digital privacy. The TPM can measure the state of a device, creating a “trust factor” that determines access to certain content. This has led to concerns about device control, as well as issues with older machines that don’t meet the hardware requirements.

Fact

🔒 The TPM, along with firmware, is critical to measuring the state of a device and creating a “trust factor.”

👥 There are concerns about device control and the potential loss of personal digital freedom.

🖥️ The mandatory TPM 2.0 hardware requirement for Windows 11 has raised questions about compatibility and access to certain features.

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Source: How are you using ChatGPT internally at your company?

Summary
The user has only used the API for personal use in generic email writing and is interested in learning how it is being used in other companies.

Fact

👨‍💻 The API can automate repetitive tasks such as sending personalized emails.

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Source: Geography of Kansas

Summary
Kansas is known as the “Sunflower State” and is often described as being flat. While the western part of the state is indeed flat due to its location on the High Plains, there are badlands made of chalk, including Little Jerusalem State Park and Monument Rocks, and there are more hills and changes in topography towards the central and eastern parts of the state.

Fact

🌻 Kansas is nicknamed the “Sunflower State” because the official state flower is the sunflower, which can be found in every Kansas county.

⛰️ The highest natural elevation in Kansas is Mount Sunflower, which is located in western Kansas near the Colorado border, and is 4,039 feet (1,231 meters) in elevation.

🏜️ The badlands in Kansas are made of chalk, deposited by the skeletons of cocolithophores, a type of algae, when the Western Interior Seaway disappeared. Little Jerusalem State Park and Monument Rocks are two examples of these badlands.

🏞️ The Smoky Hills, which are part of a larger physiographic area in Kansas, comprise not only flat topography but also limestone and sandstone formations.

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Source: The history and tragedy of the first mountain railroad through the eyes of past employees

Summary
The Mt. Washington Cog Railway, which had a great safety record for almost a century, suffered misfortune and tragedy in 1967, including the derailment that killed eight passengers. The railway was built to climb steep slopes and straddle deep ravines using rack and pinion mechanics that were designed in the 19th century.

Facts

🚂 The Mt. Washington Cog Railway is the first of only two mountain railways in the U.S.

☠️ From 1868 to 1967, there wasn’t a single death to a paying customer, but several cog employees died, often due to slide boards.

📝 A three-volume treatise on the Cog was produced by Tim Lewis and his father, which provides an inside perspective on the railway’s history and its employees.

🔧 The rack and pinion mechanics of the Cog were designed and built in the 19th century by Sylvester Marsh and consist of toothed rack rail, cog wheels, and air compression brakes that control speed during descent.

🌄 It takes approximately an hour to make the nearly 3-mile climb and an hour to descend.

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