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kaybe

3,656 karma · joined September 11, 2011

German environmental physicist, currently doing volcanology / air pollution research and running remote sensing on board an aircraft.
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kaybe··on Whatever Happened to Fire Escapes
The fire department should get a cheaper car for these calls then.
kaybe··on Everybody’s home. No one’s coming over
How about potluck brunch and guests get to hold the baby? If they’re old enough for vaccinations of course.
kaybe··on Weeping whales: Stillborn humpback whale grieving documented
You can keep the calf with the mother half of the time at the cost of some milk and the benefit of less vet costs for the calf, at least. Some very few places do that. They say the cows are much less stressed once they realize the calf will be back by morning after milking.
kaybe··on Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
Many bee species are solitary.
kaybe··on I started a “dirt notebook”
For what it’s worth, I don’t mind as long as you take me with you - tell me what you’re doing and let me see your screen. The problem is not the phone, the problem is people essentially going away mid-conversation.
kaybe··on Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why
Oh ya I remember how some computer pulled a windows update over a satellite connection during a research flight (aircraft). That was super expensive, wow. Now Microsoft servers are banned at the outgoing point since you couldn’t reliably stop it the computer itself and new teams with new computers come in.
kaybe··on I built an AI receptionist for a mechanic shop
From working in such a place I can also tell you the price depends on who is asking.
kaybe··on Military grade sonic weapon is used against protesters in Serbia
Umbrellas in Hongkong come to mind.
kaybe··on Why are most sofas so bad?
Maybe if you change the fabric they might like it more?
kaybe··on Amazon Prime Video starts showing ads in January unless you pay $2.99/month xtra
If you even find someone willing to sell to you, which is not a given internationally.
kaybe··on Volkswagen says its core VW brand is 'no longer competitive' financially
Please get an active carbon filter for your air inlet. They’re not expensive and most cars only have the pollen filter version.

We found very high pollution values inside cars which in hindsight is very much not surprising due to what you noticed. A carbon filter brings it way down.

kaybe··on Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution
Try contacting your city about it. Here they will come around within a few weeks and do as you suggested if you complain.
kaybe··on Mechanisms of scent-tracking in humans (2006)
Try it, it works really well! But it was the difference between untouched and a handled book. It’s really obvious when you smell closely.
kaybe··on PFC bans are going to change waterproof garments
I wouldn't trust plastic in a pan.
kaybe··on Recommendations for Japan Travel
One of the best room I ever had was in Norway. It was at most 3 times as large as the queensized bed, had at least 5 different lighting options and a fantastic black-out curtain (this was needed above the Arctic circle) and tons of small storage places and hooks - and this includes a tiny bathroom. Everything you need, and super cozy.
kaybe··on Surely you're publishing, Mr. Feynman
The amount of shifty money practices I've seen so far is astonishing, all in the pursuit of more science per proposal. Ideally you use some of the funding from the previous project to do some exploratory research somewhere very different and then write up a proposal around it, but since you already did some of the work there'll be money for more research and instruments and things and maybe fun ideas that students have.. creative accounting all around. I'd be appalled if it wasn't in the name of science.
kaybe··on Many indoor air quality sensor products are a scam
Nice, I'd be interested in a write-up with plots!
kaybe··on Europe is in danger of rolling electricity shortages
It might have become more present for everyone because it became colder. Two weeks ago it was still very warm around Germany.
kaybe··on How the iPhone Ruins Walking
I'm simply a person with a very old but working phone (2011?) and I'm increasingly running into the same problems. (It even had internet, with a constantly crashing browser, but it was 2G and that was switched off. (I wasn't using it anyway.))

I'm not sure how to proceed. I don't like how the modern phones feel like you do not have control over anything but they do so much in the background. Any freer option seems to be a lot of compromise and work, and is only ever supported so long. I will have to take some time to look into it at some point, but I have managed to hold on for now.

Do you have any kind of plan or thoughts about the future?

kaybe··on It seems that the good times for online Minecraft play are over
Can we please get some sort of code escrow system going, similar to how the national libraries collect all published works in a country? Video games are culture too.
kaybe··on Ocean shipping rates have plunged 60% this year
I've been meaning to read that - so no information yet, sorry.
kaybe··on Ocean shipping rates have plunged 60% this year
There was very far-reaching trade since the beginning of time. It just had to be carried by people and animals, and accordingly you only find small precious things traded far around the continents.

I just read 'The dawn of everything' and it seems that knowledge about the past has been evolving quite a bit in the past few decades. Societies still cling to the old myths of progress and premeditated development from hunter-gatherers in small bands over cities to kingdoms to states, but this a) not based on facts and never was at all (the ones putting out these ideas basically invented them over coffee) and b) not what happened.

The way the common narrative is accepted now can really hold us back.

kaybe··on What are you supposed to do with old clothes?
I'm honestly not sure it is a good idea to use really old clothes for quilting. The fabric ages and becomes thinner and thinner, and a quilt is a lot of work. Do you want to produce a quilt out of already weak material?
kaybe··on What are you supposed to do with old clothes?
I do fix things, but when it gets to the point where you close one hole just to find another after the next wash because the whole fabric became so threadbare, it's kinda pointless. At some point you can't fix it anymore, so it'll have to be replaced anyway.
kaybe··on Mysterious holes on the seafloor
Given that they said it also appears in the fossil record I think we can rule out human-made.
kaybe··on Florida police department diverting calls to mental health staff
I think that is the correct answer for most of us. Whatever it is you're offering, the probability I actually need it is preeeeetty low. I waste too much time on the internet anyways, thanks for the reminder, website.
kaybe··on Ask HN: First-time dad-to-be. What do you wish you'd known back then?
What did your spouse want? Was she out of commission? If you're not the one giving birth and not the responsible doctor it's not your call to make, is it?
kaybe··on ‘Just stop buying lattes’: The origins of a millennial housing myth
So you'll have $600 per year. Good luck buying housing on that budget.
kaybe··on The great junk transfer is coming
Being an adult for some years now after the changes in childhood and early adulthood surely is interesting with regards to stuff.

As a kid, you outgrow things so quickly that you often pass them along before they break down, or they break faster due to, well, being a kid. It's natural that things come and go quickly. This rhythm is very different in different times of life. I'm not done pondering it yet.

kaybe··on Town Seized Building, Offered to Return It If Owners Bought Two Cars for Police
Is it really that easy for US citizens to leave? Where can you go if you have neither money nor education or skills and are older?
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