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#problems

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"In higher dimensions, mathematicians still don’t know the answer [to the sphere packing problem.] [...] Now, in a short manuscript posted online in April, the mathematician Boaz Klartag has bested these previous records by a significant margin. Some researchers even believe his result might be close to optimal."

quantamagazine.org/new-sphere-

An array of ellipsoids transforming into spheres.
Quanta Magazine · New Sphere-Packing Record Stems From an Unexpected Source | Quanta MagazineAfter just a few months of work, a complete newcomer to the world of sphere packing has solved one of its biggest open problems.

A quotation from Cicero

Yet however grim circumstances are, human beings, if they really are human, occasionally relax.
 
[Homines quamvis in turbidis rebus sint, tamen, si modo homines sunt, interdum animis rexantur.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 16 / sec. 39 (2.16/2.39) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. Grant (1960)]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…

A quotation from John Adams

The Stream of Life sometimes glides smoothly on, through flowry meadows and enamell’d planes. At other times it draggs a winding reluctant Course through offensive Boggs and dismal gloomy Swamps. The same road now leads us thro’ a spacious Country fraught with evry delightful object, Then plunges us at once, into miry Sloughs, or stops our passage with craggy and inaccessible mountains. The free roving Songster of the forest, now rambles unconfin’d, and hopps from Spray to Spray but the next hour perhaps he alights to pick the scattered Grain and is entangled in the Snare. The Ship, which, wafted by a favourable gale, sails prosperously upon the peaceful Surface, by a sudden Change of weather may be tossed by the Tempest, and driven by furious, opposite winds, upon rocks or quicksands. In short nothing in this world enjoys a constant Series of Joy and prosperity.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Diary (1756-03-27)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-john/30195/

#Gentoo
#Nvidia
#Problems

So recently my laptop stopped recognizing that it had an Nvidia GPU in it. It doesn't show up in lspci so it doesn't get any work at all.

The GPU is seen by the never used Windows install and a LiveUSB install of Gentoo.

But also this laptop no longer supports power profiles. Which is wacky.

So trying to solve this problem a bit at a time. Slowly but surely.

Two big problems in #IT that I don't see anyone trying to solve, and very few people even thinking about, let alone talking about:

1. a comprehensive set of #professional #standards regarding the #ethical operation, administration, moderation, and #oversight of public discussion forums.

2. a comprehensive set of professional standards regarding the ethical storage and transmission of personal #data and #information.

I don't think people even understand why these are #problems.