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kabouseng

1,510 karma · joined April 2, 2013

Kobus Coetzee

Embedded devices developer. Pretoria, South Africa.

Feel free to contact me at kobus at embeddedfool dot net.

My blog: www.embeddedfool.net

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kabouseng··on Why do we keep gravitating toward complexity?
Its because "reality has a surprising amount of detail". It is actually the rare occurrence where a simple solution solves a complex problem. I link an excellent article that has been posted on HN multiple times, that explains exactly this.[1] (not mine)

[1] http://johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/reality-has-a-surprising-...

kabouseng··on Why you can't color calibrate deep space photos
Yes off course, but with the obvious disadvantage that you lose resolution for every filter you add. Then you say let's just increase the pixel count, which means smaller pixel pitch. But then you lose low light sensitivity, have to decrease your lens f/#, so more expensive lenses etc... Which is why it isn't done for commercially / mass market sensors.
kabouseng··on US and UK refuse to sign AI safety declaration at summit
Probably referring to the period that pax Britannia and pax Americana have been the global hegemon.
kabouseng··on Where is London's most central sheep?
In Africa I suppose we have time to lion...
kabouseng··on Ultraprecise method of aligning 3D semiconductor chips invented
You also need to take into account your manufacturing precision you can achieve with fabricating the lenses, how accurately you can position the lenses relative to the work piece etc. From my cursory reading of the paper it assumes perfect lenses and positioning, and only simulates the alignment procedure. Still, a worthy paper, but as others have mentioned, not much different than the methods used for optics alignment.
kabouseng··on Why does FM sound better than AM?
Noise is not gaussian.
kabouseng··on The quiet art of attention
I was expecting him to uncouple the horses from the carriage and continue his journey.
kabouseng··on The six dumbest ideas in computer security (2005)
That's because IT security reports to the C level, and their KPI's are concerned with security and vulnerabilities, but not the performance or effectiveness of the personnel.

So every time, if there is a choice, security will be prioritized at the cost of personnel performance / effectiveness. And this is how big corporations become less and less effective to the point where the average employee rarely has a productive day.

kabouseng··on Why does current flow the opposite way from the electrons?
Similar reason why the earth north pole is actually a magnetic south pole :) It was decided by convention / definition.

For those whom it isn't clear what I mean. Compass magnet's north poles point north, which is only possible if the earth's north pole is magnetically a south pole.

kabouseng··on Högertrafikomläggningen
There is a joke, that in order to facilitate such a change, it should be done in more manageable steps. So on day 1, only the motorcycles switch over to the other side of driving, on day 2 the motor vehicles, and on day 3 the trucks and busses switches over...
kabouseng··on VCs aren’t your friends
VC's don't have the ability to distinguish between genius and super genius...
kabouseng··on The California man who hid for 6 months in a secret room inside Circuit City
Or water closet (WC)
kabouseng··on Is It Dry Yet?
You can either wire a relay yourself, your smart plug just switches the relay, and you can size the relay according to your needs.

Or use smart switches made for geysers. Something like the sonoff pow3 can handle up to 5.5kW. Since it is just a relay inside I am pretty sure it can handle inductive loads fine.

https://sonoff.tech/product/diy-smart-switches/powr3/

kabouseng··on I broke IKEA (2023)
"third party payer"
kabouseng··on The Brennan self-balancing monorail [video]
I wonder if gyro drift would eventually cause problems?
kabouseng··on As solar capacity grows, duck curves are getting deeper in California
Doesn't the power wall include an inverter that allows for hot switching between battery and main line supply? That would explain a large part of the price disrepancy.
kabouseng··on Cops Used DNA to Predict a Suspect's Face, Tried to Run Facial Recognition on It
Unless the lab makes a mistake and contaminates the suspects DNA sample, then you win yourself wrongful imprisonment...
kabouseng··on The case for single-stair multifamily
Pedantry will kill the rest...
kabouseng··on An eruption has begun north of Grindavík
Lava is molten rock. Concrete blocks are rock.
kabouseng··on Everything will be alright in Iceland
İyi şanslar, but also used regularly is kolay gelsin, which means let it come easy, or go easy, there is no direct translation. Then there is also hayırlısı, which means what will be will be, in my experience used sarcastically / raising you shoulders when everything is f*cked, as is common these days in Turkey.
kabouseng··on Slow Electricity: The Return of DC Power? (2016)
That's not great, since entertaining guests it is preferable to have these rooms on the ground floor, and the bedrooms which can be private on the upstairs floor.
kabouseng··on NY Governor vetoes ban on noncompete clauses, waters down LLC transparency bill
A small company handles that by offering equity to the critical employees and having them share in the success of the company.
kabouseng··on Ego killed the empowered product team
"If you involve the team too much in the sausage-making aspects of this, they will invariably become distracted, lose focus, and the company will die. If you leave them too much in the dark, they will lose trust, and the company will die."

Incredible truth in this statement!

kabouseng··on Ego killed the empowered product team
Not to pick a fight, but there is this misconception from salaried employees that the running of a company is mostly calm and relaxed, and there are certainty where next months salary is going to come from. Or at least that good management achieves this.

But in reality, leadership of a company is constant chaos, the image of the dog with room on fire saying everything is fine comes to mind.

Who knows what the right decisions is, everybody has feet of clay.

kabouseng··on Could we stop Yellowstone from erupting with a geothermal power plant?
Except that volume gets released with an eruption, not over a year...Imagine 5 mount everests lifting up into the air and coming down at the same time.
kabouseng··on The Seamless Communication models
Most thoughts are in a language. There is no one underlying universal machine language for the brain.
kabouseng··on Astronomers posit that we live in an area with below average density
The force of gravity is reduced by the inverse square of the distance (newton's law). Thus as space expands, and matter red shift away from us, the force of gravity reduce over time. The maximum force of gravity was just after the big bang.
kabouseng··on Anduril announces Roadrunner, jet-powered VTOL drone
This is technically very impressive, but...

It performs the same job as a sam or aa gun, at a much increased price I would bet. And why is there a need to return to base? Then it needs to be refueled. You can also see when launched it sheds some covering, so returning to base does not mean it is operational again, it needs to be reset.

And that is in general the problem with US armament systems these days. Very impressive but way too expensive.

kabouseng··on Anduril announces Roadrunner, jet-powered VTOL drone
At low cost :D :D :D
kabouseng··on FBI Director: FISA Section 702 warrant requirement a 'de facto ban'
Lack of evidence? Precedent cases which were dismissed?
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