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TomK32on DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes

A government run by a convicted felon... It all sounds very shizophrenic.

TomK32on Why Ruby on Rails still matters

It's a small cost of $4.50/month and allows me a lot more control. In regards to wireguard, that one VM I pay for is the central wireguard node for all sorts of devices that I use, allowing me to securely access home services when I'm not at home. There are services you don't want to expose directly via a Cloudfare Tunnel.

TomK32on Why Ruby on Rails still matters

It's fun to host at home, I run docker on alpine VMs on two proxmox machines. Yeah, different docker machines for each user or use-case look complicated but it works fine and I can mount nfs or samba mounts as needed. Only thing I have on the cloud is a small hetzner server which I mostly use as a nginx proxy and iptables is great for that minecraft VM.

Why did you go for Cloudfare tunnel instead of wireguard?

TomK32on DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

It is only the job of the executive because Congress told them so via Acts of Congress. Looking at e.g. the firings of the inspector generals, Congress has put very clear language into its laws on why and when those inspector generals can be removed by their post, yet Trump and his cronies ignored this.

It should not be a formality because while it is true that the Republicans have a slight majority in Congress, the founding fathers never intended this most powerful of the three branches to be run by parties. The power in Congress is split up geographically for this very reason, but the party system, that secured its seats with gerrymandering, is highly toxic for a functioning legislative power in the US. It is disappointing to see Republicans in Congress not restricting the executive orders of the new self-proclaimed King.

TomK32on DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

Justice doesn't need the same access like Congress, it's enough if they can subpoena relevant data. Even personal data about government people shouldn't be exposed as this opens weakness the be exploited by social engineering.

TomK32on Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

It does not contradict, it lists weight lifting under muscle training, not under bone density.

TomK32on Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

Those little bones are fragile... I broke the second from the outside last summer, too much running, and then started running again a little bit too soon and the next one broke :-/

TomK32on Broken Legs and Ankles Heal Better If You Walk on Them Within Weeks

A mix is always the best.

At 40+ I do feel the benefits of adding a weekly hour of stretching and winding at the gym. Exercises everyone can put into the daily life to improve mobility. It even helps with my broken hip that was bolted back together a few years ago :-)

TomK32on Broken Legs and Ankles Heal Better If You Walk on Them Within Weeks

https://theros.org.uk/information-and-support/bone-health/ex...

TomK32on Broken Legs and Ankles Heal Better If You Walk on Them Within Weeks

Your last quote throws bones and muscles into one. Just so you know.

The Royal Osteoporosis Society recommends "Short bursts of activity are ideal for bones. For example, running then jogging, or jogging then walking." https://theros.org.uk/information-and-support/bone-health/ex...

Btw, don't confuse weight-bearing activities with the weight-lifting that I did quote previously. Resistance training alone, as for example cyclists do, has shown to not improve bone density as pre this meta study https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-...

TomK32on Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

Oh this is so bad:

> In the 19th century German surgeon and anatomist Julius Wolff recognized that healthy bones adapt and change in response to the load placed on them. That is why everyone—but especially women, who are more susceptible than men to osteoporosis—should lift weights as they age

No, weight lifting won't improve bone density, it's running that will

edit: https://theros.org.uk/information-and-support/bone-health/ex...

TomK32on Heat pump sales in Europe fall 23% to pre-Ukraine war levels

https://www.ehpa.org/market-data/

District heating is at least studied by the EU. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/4e2...

Wikipedia also has details https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_heating#Europe a map https://www.wedistrict.eu/interactive-map-share-of-district-...

Here in Linz, Austria, an industrial city, we even have district cooling. But not all houses in the inner city are connected to district heating, sadly some house owners can't be bother to accept the funding the government provides and replace gas heating :-(

TomK32on Heat pump sales in Europe fall 23% to pre-Ukraine war levels

Pre-war heat pumps were in a steady climb and 2022 was a big jump. I'm certain sales will continue to rise and we can look at those two years as a short boost and reaction to extreme gas prices. I wouldn't be surprised if some homeowners replaced their ageing heating a few years early. Market share of heat pumps is still on the rise. Here's more data and a chart from 2013 onwards. https://www.ehpa.org/market-data/

Honestly I don't know why anyone still let's politicians talk or legislate anything related to energy. They killed the solar industry, keep coal alive, want to revive nuclear when we could already be fully solar/wind/batteries and sow distrust in heat pumps over oil and gas. I don't want to see private companies taking over either, but we saw great results from the german Bürgerrat Klima where 160 discussed everything climate and the results are well ahead of what politicians want to do.

TomK32on Ukraine isn't invited to its own peace talks. History is full of such examples

None of those (comparable to the scale of Ukraine's defense against Russia) worked out, and I say that even for the Yalta Conference. The Sowiets might have had their sphere of influence over Eastern Europe and managed to surpress revolts in each of those countries but ultimately failed.

With Ukraine, it has been the USSR's production hub and it is again with a lot more innovation, better access to technology, research and a motivation to survive as a unity. Trump's peace talks are a fool's errand, Ukraine won't agree and it's not in the EU's interest either.

The only way to ends this war is to remove Putin and his regime. A fresh start for a democratic Russia like West Germany had post-war.

TomK32on USDA fired officials working on bird flu, now trying to rehire them

Yeah, humans are funny with their feelings and such. Maybe Musk is an autist afterall and not a sociopath.

TomK32on USDA fired officials working on bird flu, now trying to rehire them

When is Musk's next attempt at an insane Telsa share package due? With his current workload (plus another child) I don't see his chance improving :-)

TomK32on USDA fired officials working on bird flu, now trying to rehire them

If I were one of those working at the NNSA, I'd only come back with a job guarantee for the next eight years.

Congress is a joke, it fails to do it's job which is keeping the other two powers in check. But then, the founding fathers never had strong political parties in mind and thought the size of Congress and the geographic distribution would be enough to have a Congress with a representative range of opinions.

Regarding reelections, with gerrymandering and many more districts being a sure win for either party, the focus shifts to the primaries where an extreme voice can win easy if they can activate their supporters. This mess isn't easy to fix if those in power don't seed the need that they have to fix it.

TomK32on Grok3 Launch [video]

I like having fun with them, like by asking grok whether some Elon Musk tweet is true. Usually it replies with a lengthy answer and I then force it to answer with Yes or No. Even more fun when drilling it more to load a few more details into it's brain, and then ask the first question again, with a Yes/No only, it sometimes does change its answer. I do wonder, has Grok already joined the resistance against Musk?

TomK32on A decade later, a decade lost (2024)

and even 100 years ago was so much better than 200 years ago https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041693/united-states-al...

Let's hope the impact of RFK Jr on US health and vaccination of children won't be too big.

TomK32on US and UK refuse to sign AI safety declaration at summit

Here's the declaration[1]. No bunkers or islands mentioned.

Safety is mentioned in a context with trust-worthiness, ethics, security, ...

[1] https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/11/02-11-...

TomK32on US and UK refuse to sign AI safety declaration at summit

I think management is putting too much hope into this, any negative outcome from replacing a human with AI might result in liabilities surpassing the savings. Air Canada's chatbot was decided just a year ago and I'm sure the hallucinating AI chatbot, from development to legal fees, cost the airline more money than they saved in their call-center.

TomK32on US and UK refuse to sign AI safety declaration at summit

Is there any source for you claim that any (democratic) government wants to criminalize running code on your own computer? I didn't see it in this declaration from the AI Action summit where the USA and UK are missing from the signatories https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/11/02-11-...

As you mention ethics: what ethics do we apply to AI? None? Some? The same as to a human? As AI is replacing humans in decision-making, it needs to be held responsible just as a human.

TomK32on Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

Nothing but cat pictures, I miss the old internet.

TomK32on Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

It has started long ago with the Cybertruck release delayed by two years and then not many wanted to buy it. The new roadster was originally announced for 2020, might come this year. The groundbreaking of Gigafactory Mexico has been delayed and I doubt the recent tariff madness helps. Level 5 FSD has been promised to be achieved in three years, that was 2013. With sales tanking, I do wonder if the $1 billion expected revenue in CO2-pooling[1] (from EU competition alone) will be at risk or if the EU can come up with some tariff in response to Trump's new attempt of tariffs on EU products. Also, after two failed attempts to get this massive compensation package as CEO approved by a court, will he try and fail again? Now that he's a squatter in some D.C. government building?

[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/stella...

TomK32on Teen on Musk's DOGE team graduated from 'The Com'

Go ahead, put some legislation in place. I'd love to see transparency as the Swedes have where you can see how much tax your neighbour has paid. Or at least how much subsidies which company received. I'm sure rich people will LOVE to know the competition got half what they got... Btw, did Trump's tax returns get published yet?

TomK32on Science YouTuber physicsgirl (Dianna Cowern) stands for the first time in 2 yrs

Fungi infections can also mess with your taste.

TomK32on Trump Offers Buyouts to Federal Employees in Bid to Cut Workforce

Act like a reasonable adult and people will be nice to you and call your by your given (or chosen) name.

TomK32on DOGE Takeover of USDS Allows Them to Surveil the US Government from the Inside

joke's on you, as the Wikipedia article states it's an engineering in-joke. Of course, someone still had to pick it up and someone else had to approve it, but the idea for it still came from the bottom.

The ODNI gave a more mundane explanation for the patch design in an internal magazine, stating that it originated from an engineering in-joke regarding a piece of cabling called an "octopus harness" that caused problems during testing for the satellite, leading the engineering team to joke that "the octopus harness had taken over the world."

TomK32on How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

Be a Luigi, take a bicycle.

TomK32on AI is creating a generation of illiterate programmers

I haven't written any C++ in ages so I used a local Ollama3.2 to do a simple class and struct. The AI wanted me to use the `friend` keyword on class functions that weren't being accessed from anywhere else... I did correct itself after I asked but it took some intuition and googling to get there.