I spent most of my adult life doing compute accelerators. These are specialized pieces of hardware to speed up certain specific calculations. It was always a fringe activity, so it is surprising to see an article like this in a mainstream magazine like the New Yorker. A good read, and surprisingly accurate.

The World’s Largest Computer Chip

From the Atlas of Prejudice.

I remember something about The Opium Wars from history class. I knew it involved the British and China. I assumed it was an early War on Drugs, with the British trying to stop the sale of opium from China. Actually it was quite different. The British wanted to be able to import and sell opium into China. Opium had been banned by the Chinese government and the British went to war, and won, over the ability to sell opium in China.

Today the news is about the end of the 20 year US war in Afghanistan. I recall that Afghanistan produced something on the order of 90% of the worlds heroin. I wondered what the effect of the war on heroin production was. Like the Opium Wars it was not at all what I assumed.

It seems the Taliban all but halted opium production in Afghanistan, only to have it return once they were driven out by the US forces. There also appears to be connections between the Afghan government supported by the US and the drug trade. I am sure this could be a complicated situation, yet this raises lots of questions. I found an article that appears to have legitimate data but is critical of the US involvement. I tracked down the source and it appears to be a legitimate academic source, but affiliated with Russia. Worth a read, just for the opposing view. It also touches on the heavy use of private “contractors” in the conflict.

The Politics of Heroin and the Afghan US Pullout

I have posted lots of articles on what I am calling the Failed State of Texas. This is a good one, from Vox, but I will limit these in the future. It has basically all been said at this point. I’m will add one point about where governments, in my opinion, go wrong. When your government holds power by means other that popular support for policies, you are living in a failed state. It has nothing to do with left or right, rich or poor. I will double down on this and say that if the same group of people is running your city / state / country for more than say, a decade, you are living in a corrupt, failed state.

The Texas GOP’s war on governing

A good read about the abusive relationship between the governor of Texas and the large cities. Austin has long been they target for this sort of pettiness, but as Dallas and Houston and even places like Williamson and Hayes county turn Blue, the people living in these places are also on the receiving end of this nonsense. Of course, the vast majority of the wealth and economic activity is in these urban areas, especially now that oil and gas are winding down. A sort of economic apartheid.

Texas Republicans love to punish Austin. Now the pandemic is doing it for them.

Would like to see a chart using per Capita scaling in some way. This makes smaller countries with large populations look bad (Japan?), and large countries with small populations (Russia?) look good. From Reddit.

Happy to see this finally moving in the right direction. From Sierra.

The End of Mr. Go

I saw this article and has halfway through reading it when I remembered The Osborne Effect from the early days in my career. Osborne made an early portable PC. They announced a new model and sales for their existing model stalled. Everyone was waiting for the new and improved model. They never recovered and went bankrupt. A similar thing may be happening with gasoline cars.

When Do Fossil Fuel Car Sales Collapse?

Perhaps it’s eating less carbs or maybe just getting old, but I don’t seem to be able to do things like yard work out in the heat like I used to. I have avoided sports drinks because of all the sugar / artificial sweeteners, but recently gave them a try. I shouldn’t have been surprised at how well they work. I recently looked into making my own home made rehydrating drink and found a much-cited recipe from the World Health Organization (WHO). Reproduced below from the Mojilnar Emergency / Disaster Medicine page.

World Health Organization ORS Recipe

Ingredients:
–          3/8 tsp salt (sodium chloride)
–          ¼ tsp Morton® Salt Substitute® (potassium chloride)
–          ½ tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
–          2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar (sucrose)
–          Add tap water  to make one (1) liter
–          Optional: Nutrasweet® or Splenda® based flavoring of choice, to taste

Directions:
1.      Add the dry ingredients to a 1 liter bottle.
2.      Add enough water to make a final volume of 1 liter; mix well.
3.      If desired, add Nutrasweet® or Splenda® to taste. Mix well.
4.      Sip as directed above
5.      Discard after 24 hours.    

To add add potassium when salt substitute is not available or to improve taste, you may add orange juice or banana. To each liter, add

• A half cup of orange juice or
• Half of a mashed banana

Contains 27 grams of sucrose, 70 mEq per liter of sodium, 20 mEq per liter of potassium and 30 mEq per liter of bicarbonate. The final osmolarity is approximately 245 mOsm per liter.

Commercially made packets of WHO ORS formula are available in camping stores, on the internet, and from Amazon. Advantages include simplicity, convenient packaging, and stable storage containers. This convenience comes at a significant mark-up.