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cacarr

62 karma · joined April 20, 2017

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cacarr··on Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU
People just need to quit using the term "PC" to refer to desktop or laptop hardware that happens to be running Windows. Laptops running MacOS are "personal computers," as are desktops running Linux, or effing phones running Android, for that matter.
cacarr··on Create personal illustrated storybooks in the Gemini app
They mean the web app.
cacarr··on Create personal illustrated storybooks in the Gemini app
At least in the major Indo-European languages, I think Gemini 2.5 Pro is _much_ better at translation than Google Translate.
cacarr··on FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web
That's certainly true of Duo in experience.
cacarr··on FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web
One can understand scepticism, but Duo isn't going anywhere. If you need a FaceTime replacement, just use Duo and put all the rest of that mess out of your mind.
cacarr··on FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web
Duo is solid, extremely simple, and not going anywhere. But, yeah, it's been a mess.
cacarr··on FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web
Duo is pretty easy for the old folks on i-devices, in my experience. It's pretty much Google's FaceTime, and isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I think it's actually a bit nicer than FaceTime.

cacarr··on Why Russians do not smile (2002)
There is quite a lot of regional variation in the States. I imagine Germans would prefer New Yorkers to West Coast Americans.

Multiple times, while on a train coming into the city from Portland, OR's airport, I've observed Portlanders strike up a grinning, friendly conversation with a New Yorker, noting their accent and inquiring as to what brings them to Portland -- and invariably the New Yorker has a pained look on their face like "why the fuck are you talking to me?"

cacarr··on Why Russians do not smile (2002)
Many years ago I lived in a sort of dormitory in Tokyo. The Americans and Japanese residents understood each other's personal space preferences just fine, but it was amusing to note the look on some of the Japanese people's faces when the Italians greeted them with hugs and kisses.
cacarr··on Why Russians do not smile (2002)
The Japanese say something like "nice weather, eh?" (ii otenki desu ne? - to which one replies "sure is! - "so desu ne!") -- which is mostly just a semantically little-analyzed pragmatic sequence functioning as a casual greeting.
cacarr··on Why Russians do not smile (2002)
"In the animal world bare teeth are considered to be a threat. Hence I think there is some instinctive fear of bare teeth built into our social perception system."

Except a human smile is more akin to a canine's greeting/appeasement grin. And much more so like a Chimp's play grin. There are toothy displays in mammals that are not threatening.

cacarr··on Babel is used by millions, so why are we running out of money?
There are many cities in the USA, outside of the Bay Area, in which $132k would be a reasonable salary for that job. Just west of the Mississippi: Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, possibly even Salt Lake City, Phoenix, probably Minneapolis, Honolulu, etc.
cacarr··on Babel is used by millions, so why are we running out of money?
> 11K per month could pay for many developers if you hire people outside of Sillicon Valley ...

There are many cities in the USA where $11k/month is not at all outrageous: Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, DC, NYC, etc.

cacarr··on New HIV vaccine with a 97% antibody response rate in phase I human trials
> If we can’t get an agenda accomplished then perhaps it’s too overarching to be agreeable to or considered fundamental by most of Americans.

Republican Senators don't seem to care if an agenda is supported by a majority of registered Republican voters.

Anyhow, the Senate must be reformed or abolished. Land does not require representation. Give every state a guaranteed 2 senators, I suppose, but some reasonable formula should be implemented that apportions more populous states additional senators.

cacarr··on 'Fake' Amazon workers defend company on Twitter
I think people conflate a high degree of modern GUI proficiency with general technical literacy.

I'm not sure kids who grew up with an iPad appliance are really more generally technically literate on average than GenXers who entertained themselves trying to write Choose You Own Adventure-type stories in BASIC on their Commodore 64s ... or who, at least, managed to get their pirated copy of Stellar 7 to run.

cacarr··on RIP Google Reader
Not that many people who use Linux are clamoring for it, but it's interesting that GitHub does not provide an official desktop app for Linux -- even though it's a frickin Electron all. And that's totally GitHub's doing.

Meanwhile, at the parent company, Microsoft offets VS Code for Linux. And it's nice.

cacarr··on GitHub, fuck your name change
People from the USA often use "the Americas" in place of the sense of "America" that refers to both North America and South America.
cacarr··on GitHub, fuck your name change
There are multiple, separate issues in the question.

As a matter of actual geological fact, North America and South America are separate continents (they have their own cratonic cores). Geographically they are considered distinct in the USA also. Central America is a cultural or political region refering to the isthmus -- it is not a continent in any sense.

Nationals of the USA are called "Americans" by USA nationals, and by people from other parts of the world, including Japan, Russia, etc (in their own phonologies). Canadians refer to USA nationals as Americans, and do not call themselves Americans.

Europeans frequently object to USA nationals calling themselves Americans, claiming that the word should refer people's of both North America and South America. People from South American nations seem to feel the same. Mexicans seem to me much more likely to refer to a USA national as "Americano" than they are "Estadounidense."

USA nationals will sometimes describe people from North and South American nations as be from "the Americas."

cacarr··on Hackers break into thousands of security cameras, exposing Tesla, jail, hospital
An Anatolian livestock guardian dog is a vastly superior natural guard dog, compared to a GSD. They can not be bribed with food, and they spend every second of their waking day looking for intruders to destroy. Very gentle with children and small dogs, though.

Downsides include being extremely smart but not very trainable (smart like a wolf) -- they decide what's a threat and what isn't, and they don't care about your opinion. They guard naturally. Also, you may find yourself having to bury dead coyotes on occasion, as they will murder any that are stupid enough to intrude.

cacarr··on Hackers break into thousands of security cameras, exposing Tesla, jail, hospital
> (UK based)

Often what's "country" in the UK (outside of Scotland) would be considered exurban in the USA. You might possibly feel different about security at a truly remote home in N America.

cacarr··on Facebook is pushing back on Apple’s new iPhone privacy rules
Take a bunch of useful services away from poor people. No Gmail for you, poor person!

Nice.

cacarr··on Facebook is pushing back on Apple’s new iPhone privacy rules
Not being able to sideload apps really is feckin' idiotic, though. One ought to be able to install whatever they please on a handset they've purchased -- especially when they've spent that much.

Just bury a toggle deep in settings somewhere.

cacarr··on Mars becomes the 2nd planet that has more computers running Linux than Windows
If memory serves, the radiation environment of the Martian surface is not too much worse than LEO. If so, radiation would probably not be that much an issue.
cacarr··on Mars becomes the 2nd planet that has more computers running Linux than Windows
IIRC, surface temps on Venus are hot enough to melt lead, but not hot enough to melt whatever sort of alloys were likely used.

It does have ongoing volcanism, though.

cacarr··on MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
The dump doesn't seem to have happened yet, though. DOGE has stabilized at about $.07, down from ~$.08.
cacarr··on Transfer Stocks Out of Your Robinhood Account
Also, RH's initial communication about the matter was full of considerable shit -- moreso than other brokerages.
cacarr··on Transfer Stocks Out of Your Robinhood Account
They can't have a democratizing investment brand, and then intervene in a way that wildly (and predictably) favors the fat-cats.

Whatever changes they make, those changes need to enable them to not intervene in that manner ever again.

cacarr··on Discord bans r/WallStreetBets server, subreddit went private for a while
Now Robinhood has stopped allowing purchases of those securities. While I suppose Robinhood would like to have good relations with hedge funds leading up to an IPO, they just pissed off a significant fraction of their actual customers -- and boy are they ever gonna get an earful about it.
cacarr··on Facebook shuts down the Socialist Workers Party in Britain
"See the 'Bernie Bros' who flipped into full Trumpists ..."

There really aren't very many of those people.

cacarr··on Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating
I still feel like I've been kicked in the groin every time I open Gmail and it isn't Inbox.

Bastards!

I suppose I'm probably a fool to continue expecting that they'll eventually get around to bringing Inbox's bundles over to Gmail, like they said they were going to.

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