AndreasChris's recent activity
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Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society
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Comment on Body time and daylight savings apologetics in ~life
AndreasChris Link ParentHmm, if at all it's only perceived as special treatment due to historical context though. Without timezones it's just an arbitrary number that's assigned to a time if day. Which orientation the...Hmm, if at all it's only perceived as special treatment due to historical context though. Without timezones it's just an arbitrary number that's assigned to a time if day. Which orientation the earth has when the wraparound happens in effect doesn't matter as long as it's consistent. And it would get rid of the date line, which is much closer to special treatment of britain, as it creates a bunch of problems but is located far away from their perspective.
Also the discussion has been had already. UTC is not british time, but the result of universal time standardization. Any timezone and any localization of timestamps is defined relative to UTC already. The process has been done years ago, and all the named countries have agreed to the standard already.
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Comment on Body time and daylight savings apologetics in ~life
AndreasChris Link ParentThat's a transition problem though. Just like for most of the world it's unintuitive to think in miles but U.S.-Americans can't fathom thinking in kilometers. Or how my grandparents kept...I suspect most people would keep their local time for their convenience anyway
That's a transition problem though. Just like for most of the world it's unintuitive to think in miles but U.S.-Americans can't fathom thinking in kilometers. Or how my grandparents kept converting prices into our prior currency for quite a while to gain an intuitive understanding of how much something costs.
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Comment on Body time and daylight savings apologetics in ~life
AndreasChris LinkHot take, buf I'd honestly prefer to establish the other extreme: Just abolish timezones alltogether and stick to UTC. If I think locally - what do I care wether my noon is 12;00, 17:00 or 8:00?...Hot take, buf I'd honestly prefer to establish the other extreme: Just abolish timezones alltogether and stick to UTC. If I think locally - what do I care wether my noon is 12;00, 17:00 or 8:00? Local activities will have regional schedules. Maybe on this side of the world businesses open at 08:00, and on the other side of the worls they open at 20:00. But any international activity becomes sooo much easier all of a sudden. No more converting between timezones, no more changing clocks when travelling, and no more communication issues when scheduling cross-timezone videocalls.
In a way it seems like the logical next step to me. There was a time when each town had its own time, often offset by just a couple of minutes. Some day with faster long distance travel via trains the need for standardization arose and timezones were established. And that was long before the level of internationalization we've experienced in the last couple of decades. So why stick to an outdated system when we could just have one standard for everyone?
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Comment on The absurd Tennessee prosecution of a man who posted a Charlie Kirk meme in ~society
AndreasChris LinkThat is absolutely insane. The level of open political prosecution in the US is getting beyond uncomfortable. Allthough there are quite a few places left I'd like to visit at some point, my urge...That is absolutely insane. The level of open political prosecution in the US is getting beyond uncomfortable. Allthough there are quite a few places left I'd like to visit at some point, my urge to travel to the US again is getting smaller by the minute.
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 15 | Official trailer in ~hobbies
AndreasChris LinkFinal Episode on Nebula It's wild how throughout the entirety of episode 6... ...the chasers (Sam, Toby, and Michelle) were in theory just minutes behind the runners (Ben, Adam, and Brian) for...It's wild how throughout the entirety of episode 6...
...the chasers (Sam, Toby, and Michelle) were in theory just minutes behind the runners (Ben, Adam, and Brian) for hours, and at one point the runners even intended to get on the very train the chasers were on, yet the DB delays lined up so insanely well that no catches were made in the end. Can't get any more (un)lucky than that.
Overall I'd say this was a nice and pretty well-balanced season. Much smoother than the south-korea one we got before that. -
Comment on Jet Lag Season 15 | Official trailer in ~hobbies
AndreasChris LinkAs a german speaker I found it really funny how they cracked up over the apparent name of a suburb of a city they were going to... *A conversation that happened in episode 5, but not really a...As a german speaker I found it really funny how they cracked up over the apparent name of a suburb of a city they were going to...
*A conversation that happened in episode 5, but not really a spoiler, in the sense that you won't be able to get any information regarding gameplay from it.*
...being 'Rathaus', while that's simply the translation of 'city hall'.
Also it was kinda funny how the conductor makes a german announcement over the speaker...
*More of an episode 5 spoiler than the other one.*
...that the train has picked up a tree branch on the tracks, an inspection has been performed, they've determined everything is fine, and the journey will continue now. Yet right after that announcement they keep up the suspenseful background music and manage to edit in a 2½ minute clip of the other team completing a puzzle, plus 30 seconds of them speculating wether an inspection needs to be performed. I guess it was a suspenseful scene for english-only people, but I was kinda sitting there thinking, 'okay guys, no need to keep up the suspenseful music, we already know the issue has been fixed and your train will start moving again in a few seconds'. :D
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 15 | Official trailer in ~hobbies
AndreasChris LinkHaving watched Episode 3... ...it's really become clear now how much they've tweaked the balancing of tag to acommodate a second team. Really looks like we're gonna see the first team ever reach...Having watched Episode 3...
...it's really become clear now how much they've tweaked the balancing of tag to acommodate a second team. Really looks like we're gonna see the first team ever reach their end location. Judging by an offhand comment Sam made during the episode, it appears the season won't end if that happens though, but a run for second place is gonna start from the winner team's end location once they've all arrived there. I wonder if the team that managed to reach their location is simply out of the game (in terms of being the runners) afterwards, or if they could theoertically make a second go for their location in case they're the ones to catch the next runners. -
Comment on Jet Lag played 'Magic: The Gathering' in the real world in ~hobbies
AndreasChris Link ParentMy guess is they had pre-release NDAs in place with WotC.My guess is they had pre-release NDAs in place with WotC.
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Comment on Jet Lag played 'Magic: The Gathering' in the real world in ~hobbies
AndreasChris LinkJust noticed this has been posted to Nebula without any prior announcements a few moments ago. I suppose this may be the surprise they recently referred to in the layover podcast. After a quick...Just noticed this has been posted to Nebula without any prior announcements a few moments ago. I suppose this may be the surprise they recently referred to in the layover podcast. After a quick google search it appears that the episode has also been posted to the Magic: The Gathering YouTube channel, so it's probably a sponsored thing. A pleasant surprise nonetheless.
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Jet Lag played 'Magic: The Gathering' in the real world
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 15 | Official trailer in ~hobbies
AndreasChris LinkEpisode 2 reference So any teens around here got a theory beyond busy airports why the plane from Charles de Gaule is a bad idea? :D On another note, episode 1 is on youtube now.Episode 2 reference
So any teens around here got a theory beyond busy airports why the plane from Charles de Gaule is a bad idea? :D -
Comment on Are touchscreens in cars dangerous? in ~transport
AndreasChris Link ParentHmm, while I agree that modal controls have a greater potential to be distracting than single purpose inputs once you've gotten used to a car's layout, the medium very much does matter. If you've......it doesn't matter whether you're looking at a screen or listening to a spoken UI, if you have to construct, sustain, and manipulate a mental model to use it, your attention is not focused where it should be
Hmm, while I agree that modal controls have a greater potential to be distracting than single purpose inputs once you've gotten used to a car's layout, the medium very much does matter. If you've got a physical knob you can identify it's function with a quick look but perform the action of pressing/turning/sliding it via haptic feedback. This is not at all the case with touchscreens. You basically have to look at the screen until the full action has been performed. I've recently tried to blindly hit a static button on a navigation system (i.e. phone affixed to windshield) after quickly glancing at it while driving and failed repeatedly. Meanwhile blindly hitting a button of the airconditioning (in a car I usually do not drive) after identifying its position with a quick glance was no problem whatsoever despite me not knowing where it was before looking at it for a moment.
As for a spoken UI - I'd also argue that it makes a huge difference wether you look at or listen to something in the context of driving. Diverting my gaze from the road ahead can get very disorienting very quickly, and in my experience it takes a moment to reestablish my spatial awareness once I look back. Visual inputs are absolutely essential while driving and looking at something else directly interferes with this. Listening to spoken words occupies a different sense that is much less important in that context.
Also while it's certainly important to keep your attention on the road, I'd argue that mental overload is usually not the main problem when driving. An interruption of visual inputs of one's surroundings can become a lot more dangerous much more quickly.
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Comment on I really wish news and talk shows would change the way they discussed polls on their show in ~society
AndreasChris LinkA good political survey corrects for that though. They usually ask you for your age, education, job and other social factors as well, so that they can extrapolate data based on the overall...Really wish they would change their wording to "40% of Canadians|American who responded to the poll say ____" every time they bring up a poll result
(...)
So I get the feeling these pollsters just are not capturing a major part of the population
A good political survey corrects for that though. They usually ask you for your age, education, job and other social factors as well, so that they can extrapolate data based on the overall distributions of these factors across society as well as known trends from exit-polls of past elections (i.e. which way data of poll-responses vs actual voting behavious is usually skewed towards).
I'm not from the US or Canada, so maybe it works different around here, but what we are presented in the media with regards to projected elction outcomes over here are usually not plain percentages of poll responses from ramdomly selected people without any refined methodology behind it. At the very least the random sample group is corrected for factors such as age, etc. Usually you'll apply some sort of linear regression model (or some other more complex mathatical data analysis method) to correct for various factors and create more robust results. At that point the more specific wording you suggested would make the statement inaccurate at best and plain wrong at worst.
Of course understanding the methodology is useful and can provide insights into what the results actually mean and how reliable they are. People are notoriously bad at intuitively understanding statistics while looking at data they think they obviously understand. But good luck explaining how linear regression works to the average joe each time you present some sort of survey result in the news.
There are whole institutes with figurative armies of mathematicians to extrapolate robust results from survey data. The detailed methodology is usually not something you explain in a minute to someone without some assumed prior knowledge of statistics. If anything I'd rather think of the situation as a failure of our education system to properly teach statistics and the pitfalls of interpreting data early on in school. Proper education can make a lot of difference here. I don't think that's something a news report can solve.
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Comment on My guess and opinion on the common blockers to Linux adoption in ~tech
AndreasChris (edited )Link ParentI mean in the business sector that's basically what redhat linux is. They pay developers to develop their distro and provide premium support for a smoothed out experience. But the pricing is...I mean in the business sector that's basically what redhat linux is. They pay developers to develop their distro and provide premium support for a smoothed out experience. But the pricing is rather business oriented. It's in the lower three digits (€/$) per year for the workstation variant. To be fair that's also in the ballpark of what Microsoft charges for their one-time windows licenses (per product iteration, so effectively every few years), but most people don't notice since they usually charge hardware vendors and the cost is simply passed on to the enduser when they buy their decice. What average user seriously compares their hardware's price with and without windows preinstalled and thus notices it can make a three digit difference? So I'm not really sure what an average consumer would be willing to pay for an operating system, given how microsoft obscures their pricing to make windows appear free to the enduser.
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Comment on Data centers don't raise people's water bills in ~tech
AndreasChris Link ParentYeah, water-based systems would be rather unusual in settings like these and generally not a good idea if the thing you're trying to extinguish is mostly electronics. The datacenter at my...Yeah, water-based systems would be rather unusual in settings like these and generally not a good idea if the thing you're trying to extinguish is mostly electronics. The datacenter at my University uses an argon-based system for example. Basically if the alarm goes off you've got a set amount of time to leave the critical areas and then the whole thing is flooded with argon gas.
Either way - if a water-based fire extinguishing system significantly contributes to your water consumption, you've usually got bigger problems than that.
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Comment on California parents find grim ChatGPT logs after son's suicide in ~tech
AndreasChris LinkI am literally unable to pass the 'are you a human' check of that website and read the article. :/I am literally unable to pass the 'are you a human' check of that website and read the article. :/
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Comment on Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit with a vulgar name that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear? in ~humanities.history
AndreasChris Link ParentInteresting approach. I suppose that's due to the warmth in Australia. Where I live they actually ripen on the tree (if the weather is right) once the first frost hits. Obviously that part doen't...when it falls off the tree (it will still be too hard and astringent to eat at that point), then setting it on your counter until it's ripe
Interesting approach. I suppose that's due to the warmth in Australia. Where I live they actually ripen on the tree (if the weather is right) once the first frost hits. Obviously that part doen't happen in Australia. I wonder wether that affects the taste much.
spoon it out like jam to add to scones, tarts, or whatever
Never thought of using a spoon for that before. I usually eat them pure and choose the sucking approch: remove the tip, suck out the content (including the seeds) in one swift motion, enjoy the squishy part, and take some time to get the rest of tasty material off its large seeds with your teeth. Although my grandma has also made jam out of them in the past.
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Comment on Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit with a vulgar name that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear? in ~humanities.history
AndreasChris LinkOMG, that is my favourite fruit ever and I have not been able to find it anywhere except in my grandparents garden. I crave it so much and can't get enough of it when december comes and the fruits...OMG, that is my favourite fruit ever and I have not been able to find it anywhere except in my grandparents garden. I crave it so much and can't get enough of it when december comes and the fruits ripen. I wish they'd sell it around here and always thought they simply don't due to the difficulty of storing the fruits. I actually had no idea about its history and how popular it was in the medieval ages.
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Comment on Germany legal case alleging adblockers violate copyright in ~tech
AndreasChris LinkArguing that the way you locally display otherwise legally obtained data (e.g. a website you receive from a webserver) may constitute copyright infringement is absolutely insane... One can only...Arguing that the way you locally display otherwise legally obtained data (e.g. a website you receive from a webserver) may constitute copyright infringement is absolutely insane... One can only hope the lawsuit gets dismissed once again. Otherwise we'll have to deal with some grim implications for all kinds of development activities, usage of all sorts of visualization tools, and so many other usecases. :S
I honestly disagree with that take. Note that my background is also European, but not former-sowjet European, so my region has a different history to deal with.
Yes, Mamdani's policies are a mixture of things that are commonly implemented across Europe, implemented in some places, or not commonly found at all. But you have to keep in mind that things commonly implemented across Europe are usually a compromise between conservative and progressive forces. Yet what we are talking about with Mamdani is his pre-compromise election program at the 'what would I do if I had 100% public support' stage. So it's not a fair comparison to only consider what is found in European law already.
If we look at the less common policies through the lense of what an average center-left politician around here would demand in their election program, most of the policies do not seem extreme at all. And I'm not talking extreme left parties here, but people in the social-democrat spectrum that are commonly found in government coalitions around here.
Is free public transport something that is an unusual or radical suggestion in election programs of left-leaning or environmental conscious European parties? No. Is it something that's usually watered down to some sort of subsidy because they have to compromise with right-leaning, conservative parties? Yes. Is the result usually much better public transport than in the US (although there's still room for improvement)? Yes. (A similar logic applies to rent-control mechanisms.)
Another aspect to consider is, that some of Mamdani's policies are rather hard to place on the European left-right spectrum, because they assume a fundamentally different baseline to build upon. The status-quo is simply so different that the details of some suggestions seem like a step backwards and forwards at the same time.
As for government run supermarkets, that's really the only thing that seems rather weird to suggest from a European perspective. But the underlying ideal of ensuring affordable prices and easy access to essential goods is not. And if I compare the status-quo of my region to that of the US in terms of both the fundamental structure of supermarkets, as well as the regulations supermarkets are subject to, we're looking at two entirely different worlds here. So I believe, despite the suggested implementation seeming like a weird way to go about it, we're simply looking at the ambition to solve a problem that is not as predominant around here as it is in NYC, due to a vastly different status-quo.
All in all, looking at it through a European lense, even with Mamdani as NYC mayor I've yet to find a truly 'radical-left' US politician in a position of power.