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AndrewThrowaway

675 karma · joined March 27, 2018

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AndrewThrowaway··on Windows 95 in Electron
Two crème de la crèmes of modern software.
AndrewThrowaway··on Windows 95 in Electron
So ~35 times overhead seems like an OK outcome...

This what development has become!

AndrewThrowaway··on Windows 95 in Electron
Exactly this.

I have a brand new laptop and I could swear I had much more responsiveness in any other chat app 15 years ago than I have now in MS Teams.

Everything is delayed and "not immediate" while 15 years ago it was in Skype!

How much power is being wasted, CO2 generated globally because of this?

AndrewThrowaway··on The bait-and-switch hidden in today’s cookie announcement
What if I create a backdoor but during the code review it gets noticed?

Or does Australian government also supply some handbook about how to do it properly?

AndrewThrowaway··on Quick Tip: Enable Touch ID for Sudo (2020)
> Touch ID specifically requires a live finger.

I remember reading about one school which implemented "live finger" readers.

How did kids hack it?

Polymer clay and a gummy bear.

Put your finger on clay and wait for it to dry. You will have your permanent mirrored fingerprint.

When required fingerprint press gummy bear against clay and then against the reader. As gummy bear holds charge, can even be cut thin etc. there is little chance to detect that it is not a real skin.

AndrewThrowaway··on Git ignores .gitignore with .gitignore in .gitignore
I think this is quite genius, never thought about it before.
AndrewThrowaway··on Git ignores .gitignore with .gitignore in .gitignore
The only problem I can see it "leaking" some information?

"I see this guy has 'passwords/'" on his local machine, let's somehow sneakily merge new .gitignore to make them available publicly.

AndrewThrowaway··on Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated
I tried MSFS in VR and it was also much easier because you are somehow much more aware of the surroundings (maybe because you move "camera" around the cockpit so much more). In VR I don't get lost so easily and always have an idea where the landing strip is.
AndrewThrowaway··on Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments
My experience:

Teeth looks fine and healthy, not much tartar to clean. When was the last time you visited?

Two years ago.

Oh no you should visit at least twice a year (?). Even if all looks fine x-ray is recommended which can reveal some things.

I do the x-ray. All is fine. You don't even have upper wisdom teeth. Lower wisdom teeth are at 90deg so they can pose a risk if they started growing.

Yeah, but I am 40 years old already? My mother is 70 and has the same 90deg wisdom teeth, never started growing?

TBH it really starts to feel "scammy" when they start suggesting procedures for things that might never happen.

AndrewThrowaway··on No, you can’t save £30 per year by switching off your “standby” devices
I can't remember the exact model of course but it must have been some 2000s SONY WEGA Trinitron. Quick search says it uses 0.3W in standby.

30k cycles / 365 days / ~4 cycles a day (morning news, evening) is ~ 20 years of clicking.

Let's say TV is in standby 20h per day. So ~ 146 000h * 0.3W will be ~ 44 000Wh or 44kWh.

44kWh * £0.16 or so equals to ~£10.

AndrewThrowaway··on No, you can’t save £30 per year by switching off your “standby” devices
I remember my father powering off TV. It was this old SONY TV with an actual power off switch at the front. The switch that does click/clack and breaks the power.

Him saying that he will save some money. Let it be those 30GBP a year. I asked how much will it cost to change the switch when it actually breaks from this constant clicking.

He stopped turning off the TV.

AndrewThrowaway··on Axios-Ipsos poll: Most Americans say Covid is no longer a crisis
I think there is an interesting aspect of this - how society treats death, what is philosophy of death in that society, etc.

Colleague's grandpa passed away in Scandinavia. As it was summertime, all the extended family is on vacation, abroad and etc. they put the body in the freezer and schedule funeral at some time when everybody's back.

On the other hand I have read about Japanese (might be any other Far East country) culture where passing away of father requires something like a year of mourning. Culture doesn't allow you to go to work for a year as you would look insensitive. However not showing up at work for a year is also a big nono. So it becomes a huge strain on all the family.

And we can imagine how these two cultures can have very different approaches to crisis like that, crisis itself is of a very different scope because of culture.

AndrewThrowaway··on I thought I’d have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35 (2020)
One could argue that Musk's achievements are nagative net sum to human race.

Better car? With all this money and influence personalities like that could shape for much better future - livable, walkable cities, public transport, social guarantees.

Private cars in private tunnels for the rich? Is this what we call "achievement"? "There will be no traffic jams in LA because I will be riging my car in private tunnel"?

Rocket's are super cool. Then again a lot of people would argue that instead of aiming for the Mars we should aim to fix Eath's problems - climate, pollution etc.

Depending on how you look, Musk is actually who accomplished far far less. Just made the world better for individualist rich men not much more. Growing up rich and just spending inherited money on expensive stuff might be better for the human race in the end.

AndrewThrowaway··on From Belonging to Burnout, Five Years at Airbnb
What is funny about families is that a lot of them are dysfunctional.

As one anecdote goes:

Patient says that he recently made it up with his mother.

Psychiatrist ask what happened.

"She died" answers patient.

And we all know a lot of those families who meet once a year because of the need. And companies then want to call themselves "families".

AndrewThrowaway··on From Belonging to Burnout, Five Years at Airbnb
> 7,000-plus workforce

It is sometimes just too hard to wrap your head around this. How what is basically a website requires such a workforce? I get that it is much more than a website, there are various aspects of platform and etc. I understand that my comment might seem off. However 7000 is really a lot people.

AndrewThrowaway··on Germany has seized control of Gazprom Germania
Are we still trying not to offend Russians?
AndrewThrowaway··on NordVPN has killed their warrant canary
It is surprising for me how people can't imagine a scenario where:

Some government agency (KGB, FBI, CSI, whatever) comes to VPN, secure mail, etc provider; Informs that some "enemy of the state" is using the service; Demands to overtake the service, install some software etc; Or else CEO of the service is also an "enemy of the state".

From this moment this service is not only "not secure" but directly allows access to your email data, leaks all the keys, passwords, browsing history, logs whatever they want etc.

Yeah VPN will allow you cheat Netflix. Never trust any service to not comply to some government agency.

AndrewThrowaway··on Piracy release group EVO ‘blames’ movie industry for its popularity
Can easily imagine yearly subscription becoming $120 and monthly something like $29.
AndrewThrowaway··on After 150 years, we should finally redesign the computer keyboard
I guess it is kinda similar as:

"After 150 years, we should finally redesign the transportation system". I mean the writing is on the wall - public transportation is the future. Electric, sustainable public transportation.

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” (Frank Zappa, musician)

Now let's communicate the idea to all the public starting with car manufacturers.

AndrewThrowaway··on Why WHO skipped 2 Greek letters to name new variant ‘Omicron’
It looks like the will use all of "Alphabet" eventually.
AndrewThrowaway··on Swedish study finds discrimination against men in female-dominated occupations
> Among those prisoners, about fifteen men were in prison for every woman in prison.

https://www.acrosswalls.org/sex-ratio-prisoners-across-world...

One "occupation" where discrimination against men is shocking.

AndrewThrowaway··on U.S. sets goal to drive down cost of removing CO2 from atmosphere
I guess you need to plant X trees, wait Y years for them to accumulate Z carbon and then bury all the trees M meters underground to stay there forever.
AndrewThrowaway··on A botched circumcision and its aftermath
Another mindblowing fact about USA - some tribal genital mutilation is a norm. You wouldn't believe this would be happening in a first world country at all and here you have it.
AndrewThrowaway··on Smart sunglasses with lenses displaying real-time data for cyclers
https://tech.moverio.epson.com/en/bt-30c/ If I look at Moverio's website, technical data I can instantly see a few differences from ENGO - Epson provides all kinds of data, I can see prisms in product photos. I can get an idea about actual technical implementation so I have no doubt this is a real thing (also it is Epson) etc etc. I can see numerous youtube videos about the product working and etc.

ENGO is just a marketing website. Doesn't show anything like a working product. It is all photoshop and renders. No idea about anything technical. Modal windows popping up. Shopify site where I am buying don't know what. Testimonials from half a year ago. Nothing of user reviews on youtube?

I bet you it is a scam. Cmon guys. It is a scam.

AndrewThrowaway··on Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, death by 85%
It could also show age of patients.

There is no doubt about vaccine efficacy. However it all depends. On your age, on your illnesses, on strains of virus. Who knows what you will get in 2 years.

So people who say that "pfft it is only 2% chance and only if you get" are just denying it.

You will get COVID. Hopefully you get it after a few years when there are not only vaccines but drugs widely available.

AndrewThrowaway··on Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, death by 85%
That's the problem - "even if you get COVID".

At the start of pandemic we could have hoped that it will pass in half a year, in a year or so. Now we know that it is probably here to stay.

So eventually you will get COVID.

Depending on how long has passed after your vaccine, what variation of virus you will get, how old you are and etc will depend if it is more like 5% or 1% or so.

In my office I have 200 or so colleagues. Imagine having 4-5 funerals at the company because of this illness.

AndrewThrowaway··on Smart sunglasses with lenses displaying real-time data for cyclers
No technical information whatsoever, testimonials written half a year ago (https://us.engoeyewear.com/pages/testimonials). However nobody reviewing them on Youtube? Can we just agree that it is a scam?
AndrewThrowaway··on Smart sunglasses with lenses displaying real-time data for cyclers
No technical information whatsoever plus passive aggressive modals for 10% off. It just doesn't smell good.
AndrewThrowaway··on Smart sunglasses with lenses displaying real-time data for cyclers
Google Glass required quite considerable optical system with prisms and etc:

https://www.varifocals.net/google-glass/

Only image I can find on the website that seems to demonstrate anything is maybe this one

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0555/1810/1695/files/Nose_...

So does it project image on the glass? Maybe projects image directly on retina? How does it work? What is the resolution etc? Why not answer these more technical questions in some article further on the website?

AndrewThrowaway··on Smart sunglasses with lenses displaying real-time data for cyclers
https://us.engoeyewear.com/pages/how-it-works

Would have thought that "how it works" would explain the optics part as obviously just having a screen 1cm from your eye would not work.

However without this explanation it looks like a kickstarter scam...

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