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class3shock

1,368 karma · joined February 6, 2023

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class3shock··on Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves
People who demand others sacrifice their privacy to allow a private company to collect unlimited data on public spaces, to be used, sold, and profited off of as they see fit, with no oversight or constraints, should not be taken seriously.
class3shock··on Ford kills the All-Electric F-150
The dealer owners have better cocaine and hookers. If you think I'm joking you probably live in a more sane country.
class3shock··on Ford kills the All-Electric F-150
That's an "american" small, lol.
class3shock··on Ford kills the All-Electric F-150
I talk later on that I think a small ev van would have been a better entry into the market.

That being said I do love pickups, my dream car is probably the Slate if it ever gets made. I won't argue about truck over van on the merits because I think the van wins. Trucks are just cooler in the minds of americans I guess.

class3shock··on Ideas aren't getting harder to find
Shouldn't the chart that shows effective number of researchers show them as a factor of the population? Not a factor based on how many there were when we had a much smaller population?
class3shock··on Ford kills the All-Electric F-150
You are looking at the wrong thing, look at overall vehicle dimensions.

1995 Ford Ranger Extended Cab - 3200+ lbs - 198" long - 69" wide - 6' bed

2023 Ford Ranger Super Cab (last year they had a 2 door) - 4100+ lbs - 210" length - 73" width - 6' bed

1000 lbs heavier, a foot longer, a few extra inches wide, with the same size bed.

https://www.edmunds.com/ford/ranger/2023/supercab/features-s... https://www.edmunds.com/ford/ranger/1995/extended-cab/st-754...

class3shock··on Ford kills the All-Electric F-150
The F-150 is in one of the markets I think ev's will take over first (small commercial vehicles) but it just was not the right vehicle to start with. To expensive, even when the tax incentives were still a thing, and Ford suffers from having corrupt dealers taking a large cut on top of that. So you are selling to either the top 5% or bigger businesses.

If you are a top 5% buying this you want it to tow your expensive toy somewhere which ev's suck at currently or you want it to drive to "insert outdoorsy vacation destination", which means long distance in a remote area with few charging stations. So not a great sell.

If you are a bigger business I think this probably makes sense in some cases. You aren't dealing with the maintenance of an ICE, you can keep it "running" inside a building, it can provide on site power, probably has cost benefits in cities where the lack of emissions and noise is helpful. But the expensive really narrows down your customers. Many are also looking for range and towing, which doesn't help, and people that would show up for the ev part probably would be better off with a van.

If they had done a small e-transit, in the $30-35k range and sold it direct for actual msrp they would have had a much better chance at dealing with where we are now (high interest rate and low support for ev's).

class3shock··on Our emotional pain became a product
"Gatekeeping trauma with a broad brush is never good in my mind."

Everyone self diagnosing has its own problems though and these days what is presented as trauma on social media has a ridiculously low bar. That's fine if you can look at it objectively and see the hyperbole attention grabbing for what it is but how does that play with all the kids who don't have that capacity? Or adults looking for external reasons to blame their woes on?

I also think life is generally hard, as we all have our personal challenges we deal with that cannot be compared and contrasted. I would suggest though that this is less about shaming people for reaching for pain relief and more about shaming those that are telling the entire world it is in severe pain and should be taking prescription pain killers.

class3shock··on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options
I'm less bothered by the ever present smart tv and more bothered that there is no way to just turn on the tv and go straight to input from a certain port. Would love to know TV's that just do that. My old Samsung constantly forces me to click through sources and out of smart features to get to the hdmi from my computer everytime I turn it on.
class3shock··on French supermarket's Christmas advert is worldwide hit (without AI) [video]
You are framing it as "this technological advancement is being thought of as bad because we always think of new technological advancements as bad". AI is bad because of all the ways in which it is objectively bad.
class3shock··on How Google Maps allocates survival across London's restaurants
Can anyone recommend an alternative to GMaps for searching for restaurants, services, or general "discovery" near a location?
class3shock··on The Lost Machine Automats and Self-Service Cafeterias of NYC (2023)
Also Dark City
class3shock··on Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop
The power management is one of my biggest issues with my Framework 16 but I am hoping it gets better over time with newer linux releases as it has for other laptops I've had.
class3shock··on The past was not that cute
I think the interest in cottagecore and similar things is less about people finding them cute and more about people looking for meaning, something we've always struggled with as technology advanced. Look at the Arts & Crafts movement in the US and Art Nouveau in Europe in the early 1900s, both were a response to the industrialization and dehumanization of work and art. Read Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut from the 1950s which imagined a future where basically all work was automated and the terribleness of that path. History might only rhyme but this is one that has happened a number of times.
class3shock··on I ignore the spotlight as a staff engineer
I know this is off topic but if you ever have the inclination to write about it, I would be really interested in reading about any books, people, experiences, professional lessons learned, etc. that have been helpful to you on progressing along a non-spotlight technical focused engineering path.

I'm in a different domain (aerospace) but am trying to carve out a similar career path and am always looking for more to learn about just being a good engineer.

class3shock··on High-income job losses are cooling housing demand
The current housing costs (price + interest rate) just seem so out of line with the average household income it boggles my mind it hasn't cooled alot more already.

At $84k average household income, assuming 1/3 going to a mortgage would give you $2.3k a month to work with. At 6% interest rate, assuming 20% down payment of $70k, you can just manage a $350k home and that is ignoring taxes, not adding other closing costs, not considering utilities, assuming an interest rate on the lower side and assuming a 20% deposit.

Add tax and that gives you around $1.7k to work with. Assume only putting down 10% and adding in $400 a month to cover utilities then you can manage around $175k home. That rules out buying a house in alot of the US.

And yes, households in more expensive areas make more but if you are buying the average house, that costs $410k you need to be making like double the national average income to stick to the 1/3 rule. How many households are earning $170k where houses are $410k?

Are people just devoting 50%+ of their income to housing? Everyone buying a house with the help of mom and dad? I just really don't get it.

class3shock··on NTSB Preliminary Report – UPS Boeing MD-11F Crash [pdf]
There is nothing here to say it being a maintenance issue is doubtful. It could quite literally be a similar issue to Flight 191, we don't know yet.

It did have ample engineering reserve beyond the load it was subject to... before fatigue damage initiated a crack which then grew until there was no reserve left. The question is why the fatigue crack initiated prematurely? Maintenance damage? Analysis mistake? We don't know yet.

class3shock··on Homeschooling hits record numbers
If schools are problematic or have kids that are problematic, wouldn't it make more sense to focus on investing in them to make them better, adding resources to support difficult kids, to help parents who are not doing well? As opposed to disengaging from them?
class3shock··on NTSB Preliminary Report – UPS Boeing MD-11F Crash [pdf]
It depends. This aircraft was made near the beginning of the MD-11 production and if the original analysis for the fatigue life of this location was wrong, then you would expect to see that appear in older aircraft first. If that ends up being the case then it's not an inspection or maintenance issue, it's an engineering failure. Given aerospace accident history I would say that is less likely than some maintenance issue but we won't know for sure for a bit.
class3shock··on After delays, Egypt set for lavish opening of grand museum
Not many pictures, some more pictures here: https://www.youarecurrent.com/2024/03/12/column-visiting-the...

Grabbed this one as it was the first I found that a picture from the museum looking out at the pyramids.

class3shock··on Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?
I don't understand how the bigger vehicle theory tracks when pedestrian deaths were dropping from 1990-2010, a period that saw vehicles in general get larger and the same trend towards buying SUVs instead of cars.

https://thundersaidenergy.com/downloads/us-vehicle-sales-by-...

class3shock··on Who owns Express VPN, Nord, Surfshark? VPN relationships explained (2024)
Proton's response in the thread:

Hi everybody, this is Andy here. I'm one of the original researchers from CERN behind ProtonMail and ProtonVPN. There's some false info out there about ProtonVPN, and these stories were first fabricated by Private Internet Access, a competitor who has been feeling pressure from ProtonVPN lately.

The stories are false, but we have always been very open with the community, so I would like to provide some background anyways. As many of you know, Proton has many partners (Radware, F5 Networks, Equinix, Radix, Farice, LeaseWeb, Dell, Supermicro, etc). Tesonet Lithuania is indeed a partner within our long list of partners, but it's a huge stretch to claim ProtonVPN is run by Tesonet.

We first met Tesonet back in 2015 when they offered to provide us with internet infrastructure (we received many offers after the infamous 2015 DDoS attacks - we never bought infrastructure from Tesonet). During this period, Google was suppressing ProtonMail in search results, and we were financially suffering. To address this challenge, we needed to hire staff outside of Switzerland where costs are lower. This is how our Skopje, Prague, and Vilnius offices got started.

Prague happened because two of ProtonMail's early hires from CERN were Czech. Skopje and Vilnius happened because we knew local partners there (it would not have been possible to source local candidates, handle HR and payroll, understand local regulations, etc, without outside assistance). We worked with Radix (Macedonia) and Tesonet (Lithuania) to accomplish this. Tesonet in particular was selected since they are one of Lithuania's largest tech companies (and we already knew them).

While our early hires in both Vilnius and Skopje were always working fully for Proton, they were formally employed by our local partners because we did not have a local entity that could employ them. In the early days of Proton, this was not an uncommon arrangement since our team is spread across over 10 countries.

In mid-2016, Google finally halted the suppression of ProtonMail in search results and we experienced strong growth. This gave us the resources to create our own corporate entities in Macedonia and Lithuania, and we engaged Radix and Tesonet to do this. We used the same legal address and nominee directors as our local partners because we still did not have our own office yet. For contractual reasons, these moves took some time. For example, ProtonLabs Skopje, our newest entity, only moved in November 2017.

For historical reasons, some connections to our past local partners remain. Some of the IPs we use in ProtonVPN's global network might be acquired or leased from Radix (we have never, and do not currently use IPs from Tesonet - most IPs are from LeaseWeb or are our own IPs). Similarly, the ProtonVPN Android keystore mistakenly lists Tesonet as the organization name, since our Android developer was at that time formally employed through Tesonet. Due to the way the Android Play store works, this keystore can unfortunately never be changed, but it remains under our sole control.

The entities we use today in Skopje and Vilnius are both subsidiaries of our corporate entities in Switzerland. While we no longer employ team members through third parties (except for in the United States where don't do direct employment), we do continue to share expertise and work on projects together with various partners. For example, our two new Swiss datacenters are being built together with Radix in order to share some of the fixed costs.

Going forward, we will need to continue working with partners around the world as we grow (unless you're Google, you can't do everything yourself). This is not the first time one of our partnerships has been inaccurately portrayed (the other incident is so ridiculous I'm not going to mention it here). The truth however, is less interesting than the conspiracy theories might have you believe.

--------

Further comments on the smear campaign against us:

    The false allegations were originally spread by US-based VPN provider, Private Internet Access (PIA), who also happens to be a major competitor. We think it says a lot about them to be engaged in shady marketing tactics.

    ProtonVPN/ProtonMail does not, and has never used any IPs or servers from Tesonet (this can be publicly verified)

    Proton does not share any employees (or company directors) with Tesonet. This is also a verifiable fact.

    Proton has not used Tesonet for HR since 2016.

    There is little actual evidence that Tesonet does data-mining (in any case we have never used infrastructure from them).

    Proton has many suppliers (Dell, Juniper, Radware, etc). If you dig enough, you can find dirt on all of them and create a false narrative. We do business with other tech companies - this is not a secret or abnormal.
We're not surprised to be attacked given how shady the VPN industry is. If anything, it indicates to us that we are doing something right.
class3shock··on Who owns Express VPN, Nord, Surfshark? VPN relationships explained (2024)
Kape was Crossrider which was linked to malware (per link)

https://cyberinsider.com/private-internet-access-kape-crossr...

class3shock··on Who owns Express VPN, Nord, Surfshark? VPN relationships explained (2024)
The same PIA which is now part of Kape Technologies which under its former name of Crossrider was known for malware?

https://cyberinsider.com/private-internet-access-kape-crossr...

class3shock··on Building the most accurate DIY CNC lathe in the world [video]
It's so cool to see Cylo get posted here. I remember finding his channel via an air bearing video years ago and being so impressed at what a (then) kid was doing, cool to see him still doing stuff and getting recognized for it. For anyone enjoying this Dan Gelberts video on his lathe, which I think inspired this, is worth watching. Robin Renzetti also does cool precision focused stuff but I don't know if he does Youtube much anymore.
class3shock··on How Boom uses software to accelerate hardware development
It doesn't, they just want to use a buzzword to make it look like they are doing new and advanced things.
class3shock··on How Boom uses software to accelerate hardware development
Sure, as there is when any two companies work together but to say they have no ability to communicate performance parameters, that they have no ability to work together, is just wrong.
class3shock··on How Boom uses software to accelerate hardware development
That doesn't sound good to investors that don't know anything and don't do any due diligence.
class3shock··on How Boom uses software to accelerate hardware development
TLDR: We changed our plane design and lost range, we used ai in helping tweak our engine design to get back our range, we were successful in our computer models.

This article is just another from what are fundamentally hardware companies proclaiming how they're implementing "ai" and it's doing so much to help to gather more stock/venture investors but with no actual substance.

Everything he discusses taking into account are things that airplane/engine manufacturers already do and it doesn't require ai, just some python or god forbid, an excel sheet.

His statement about the relationship between airplane and engine manufacturers is factual correct but so blatantly wrong. You think GE/PW and Boeing/Airbus engineering don't work closely with each other when a new model is being developed? You think either would risk hundreds of millions and years of development without talking to each other? How does anyone take this guy seriously enough to give him millions of dollars?

"This close approach gave rise to mkBoom, our proprietary airplane design software. Initially created in a simpler form for XB-1, mkBoom has evolved significantly and is now pivotal to designing our Overture airliner."

This is the same overture airframe that supposedly had it's final design released in July of 2022? And was supposed to be rolled out in 2025? And have it's first commercial passengers in 2029? (Ref. 1)

But apparently 18 months ago the structure was being redesigned in such a way that caused a 1000 mile range loss (that is described as "subtle" fuselage change)? And in response to that last year they completely redesigned the engines and regained that 1000 miles of lost range... Sure.

More importantly, given the FAA states they a new aircraft takes 5-9 years to certify (Ref 2.) it seems the 2029 target is not viable any longer right? So are you going to tell American or should I?

Ref. 1 https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2022/American-Airlines...

Ref. 2 https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/airworthiness_certific...

class3shock··on Why Should We Worry About Declining Birth Rates?
The arguments for why we want the birthrate to be higher seem to be: 1. More people, more "ideas" 2. There are things that need to be done that have fixed costs, more people, cheaper per person 3. Basically, more people is better because human life is good
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